#SpringDunk Challenge
As we bid adieu to winter and welcome spring, we at Swim Drink Fish, are issuing a challenge for all those itching to get right into the swim season.
The #SpringDunk Challenge.
To welcome the arrival of spring we’re asking YOU to get into the water this March and take a #SpringDunk. When you do, tag @swimdrinkfish on Instagram and Twitter, and use the hashtag #SpringDunk.
Each time you take the #SpringDunk challenge, tag @swimdrinkfish and use #SpringDunk, you’ll be entered into a contest to win a SWIM DRINK FISH water bottle and hat.
The #SpringDunk Challenge is a way to connect us with water as we all get excited about the changing of seasons. If you need help finding a place to take the challenge, head to Swim Guide.
But the act of swimming, and simply getting into the water, has great effectiveness in achieving clean water for everyone.
Swimmers, and the act of swimming, is an indicator of clean water. Our organization is built off the goal of creating swimmable, drinkable, fishable water for everyone. If you can swim in the water, drink the water, and fish from the water, then your community has clean water.
Swimming has been one of our greatest tools in challenging policy makers to clean up waterways that are imperilled. We held mass swims in Kingston and Toronto, to force those decision makers to stop looking away, and do something about the “no swimming” signs that exist. Those signs only signal that the problem is too hard to solve, but, public health problems don’t go away with a sign, they just find new targets.
So, every time you take the plunge, you’re supporting a community’s right to clean water.
The act of getting into water has great benefits to helping us, and other organizations, continue to advocate for clean water, but it also has wonderful benefits to yourself.
Read, Cold Water Swimming: 5 Reasons Why You Should Just Go Do It, to get more into the mood.
Our Fraser Riverkeeper, Sadie Caron, challenged herself in 2021 to get into the water at least once every month of that very challenging year. Sadie wrote about the experience, A Jump Start for my Nervous System, and all the positives that came along with getting in the water in those colder months.
Sadie is now one of the many excellent advocates about the benefits of cold water swimming, like Artist, Zoë Pawlak. Read her beautiful story, Taking the Plunge, about finding similar solace in the frigid waters during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
In Toronto, we asked the community to come, Imagine if Torontonians had a new beach to enjoy at Ontario Place, and since then, people have been flocking to the site year-end to enjoy the cool water during hot summer days, and braving the very cold waters deep into winter.
For all of us to swim, drink and fish from clean water, it takes a community, and community starts with you. There are different ways to get involved with our Community Water Monitoring teams around the country:
Volunteer
Donate
Sign in up here in Vancouver, and here in Toronto.
Each water sample our team takes costs $10, so if you sign up to become a Wave Maker, and donate $10 monthly, you’re helping sustain our goal of connecting people to water, and creating access to swimmable, drinkable, fishable water for all.
