The second annual Polar Plunge to benefit the Forever Paws Animal Shelter took place at 10:00 a.m. on New Year's Day, 2012, at Sandy Beach in the City's South end. Sponsored by the Sandy Beach Neighborhood Association, the event drew over 100 people, most of them spectators, to watch several city officials and about forty others wade into the frigid water. Fortunately, the air temperature was in the 40th with plenty of sunshine, unusually warm for a New Year's Day event. Mayor William Flanagan and City Councilor and Neighborhood Association president Pat Casey thanked everyone for their support of the Animal Shelter before they led the group into the water. Click here for the video of this year's event and here for last year's. Signs were posted at the event announcing the upcoming 5th annual Fall River Fitness Challenge that begins the following Saturday at the Kuss Middle School. For more information, contact CD-REC Program Director Jamison Souza at 508-679-0922 or Healthy City Coordinator Dave Weed at 508-324-2411.

(Top row, left) Forever Paws Animal Shelter treasurer Beverly Andrade accepts a donation from Gerald Lamay before the Plunge. (Top row, center) Standing next to a sign advertising the Fall River Fitness Challenge, a spectator at Sandy Beach looks out over Mt. Hope Bay at the Fall River Police Department boat. (Top row, right) Fall River Police Lieutenant Banville lights a fire on the beach to warm the crowd. (Row two, left) Fall River patrolmen Jim Cusick and Clay Walkins stand in their red water rescue suits as Lt. Wilson holds the rope that he will feed to them when they are in the water. (Row two, center) Pamela Pires shivers after testing the temperature of the water she will soon enter. (Row, two, right) John Sylvia checks the water temperature for Mayor Flanagan. (Row three, left) Outgoing City Councilor Leo Pelletier gets instructions from Attorney Rene Brown on how to take her picture when she is in the water. (Row three, center) City Councilor Pat Casey, Mayor Flanagan and WSAR Radio host Pam Viveiros pose for a photo before the Plunge. (Bottom row, left and center) City Councilor and Neighborhood Association president Pat Casey takes the microphone from Mayor Flanagan before the countdown to entering the water. (Bottom row, right) Newly elected City Councilor Daniel Rego screams for his towel after coming out of the water.