On Saturday, Jan. 25, Pastor Phillip Kight and about 40 other participants bravely leapt into the icy waters of Lake Nottely at the TVA Boat Ramp Beach in a fundraising campaign for Vertical Church.
Still others looked on while enjoying the warm cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa provided by the Food Ministry Food Truck. There were even bonfires to warm everyone up after the dip into the water, which was a balmy 44 degrees that day.
Continue reading with a subscription.
North Georgia News — serving Union County since 1909.
Cancel anytime.
“Today is our first ever Polar Bear Plunge to help raise money for our building campaign,” Pastor Kight said. “Ninety percent of the donations we receive will go toward our building fund, and the other 10% will go to the Jones Creek Food Pantry. They do amazing work in our community, and we are really proud to be able to support them and what they do.”
As for the primary purpose of the fundraiser, Kight said the church is trying to pay off the debt on its building in Blairsville, which formerly housed the Skillet Cafe.
“When we bought the building, we created some debt, and our goal is to be debt-free,” Kight said. “We believe that when we are debt-free, we will have more money to go out and serve in our community – that’s what I feel like a church is supposed to be doing.”
Vertical Church has several plans in mind to be of greater service in the area, especially since there are “certain things our community needs, like childcare.”
“Childcare is a big need,” Kight said. “We’d love to do some kind of daycare or something that would specifically serve in our community to help parents find a cost-affordable option for daycare. So that’s on the vision board (for Union and Towns counties).”
The church has two locations serving people in the mountains, one in Blairsville at 223 Wellborn Street and another in Hiawassee at 1460 US 76.
Kight has been pastor of Vertical Church since 2021 but has been on church staff since 2019. He graduated from Lee College in 2012 and had a stint in the business world, but his calling turned out to be in ministry.
“I love it here,” he said. “Our church is very kind and loving and supportive, and I am very fortunate that I get to be here. Most of the ‘plungers’ are from our church, but we do have some who’ve heard about what we’re doing and want to be a part of it and support what’s going on.
“You’ve got to be a little bit crazy to want to jump in the lake, and then you drum up sponsors. We wanted the event to be fun, but anyone can jump in. This is an amazing turnout.”
The Polar Bear Plunge was concocted by the church’s Building Campaign Chairman Chris Milhous.
“This seemed like a great idea in July, but the last couple of weeks, maybe not so much,” joked Milhous on the cold January morning of the plunge. “The thought here was to do a fun event that anybody could do, and the support from the church has been outstanding.”
Milhous reviewed logistics before the plunge, taking a head count, introducing the nurse on standby and highlighting other safety procedures. Plungers were warned against hypothermia and given a rundown of the symptoms, just in case.
The unique event was quite a success, as the church raised over $16,000, and talking with the brave souls who took a dip afterward was enlightening.
“I do these every month,” said 60-year-old plunger Frank Stapleton. “This is the first one of the year. I’m going to do them at least until I’m 90.”
“It was awesome,” attested plunger Rick Jones. “These people are amazing. It’s all about loving each other and loving the Lord. I’m having a blast. I mean, as cold as it is, I’m a little numb right now, but it was wonderful.”
“Gosh, how do you even explain it?” said plunger Hannah Graham. “It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done. I did it for the Lord. And actually, I feel pretty good, like my body kind of needed it.”
For more information on the church, visit https://www.vcotm.org/.
