Valentine Plunge asks donors to "jump in and feel the love"
ANNUAL EVENT RAISES MONEY ON BEHALF OF THOSE WITH ALS
By Alex Biese • COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU • January 31, 2008


MANASQUAN — Borough resident Jim O'Neill wants local community members to "jump in and feel the love" at the second annual Valentine Plunge, set to be held Feb. 9 at Main Beach.

As with last year's event, money raised by the plunge will benefit staytough.fightHARD and The Joan Dancy and People with ALS (PALS) Support Group, two local organizations committed to helping area families dealing with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neurodegenerative disease also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease.

O'Neill, a trustee with staytough.fightHARD, said the organization was founded two years ago to aid his younger brother, Timothy O'Neil Sr., who was diagnosed with ALS in 2004 and died last July at the age of 47.

One of the plunge's other founders, PALS founder and Rumson resident Frank "Terry" Magovern, who was Joan Dancy's fiance, also died last July.

O'Neill said this year the members of both groups "are even more dedicated since my brother passed on and Terry passed on, and I really do think they feel a presence from above and are working harder to not only support the people that do have it but to support the people who are working to find a cure."

He added, "This is going to continue on as long as I live and hopefully longer."

Reflecting on the success of last February's inaugural plunge, which drew more than 300 participants and raised $115,000, O'Neill said, "we're anticipating, from what it looks like right now, . . . to double those numbers."

He said, "Really, the feeling I get, and I think I get from everybody else, is they were able to make a difference in somebody else's life, and I think that's why people do these things, especially the plunge, because you don't have to be a star athlete. . . . You just have to have the desire to jump into the freezing water."

Preregistration for the Valentine Plunge will be held 5 p.m. Feb. 8 at O'Neill's Bar and Grill at 390 E. Main St. in Manasquan. All plunge participants must pay a $25 registration fee and raise a minimum of $75, according to the official Web site of the event, www.valentine

plunge.com.

Alex Biese: (732) 643-4255

or abiese@app.com

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