The music was pumping, people were decked out in everything from a baby shark head to Captain America costumes, as well as a variety of holiday get-ups (think sparkling antlers and Santa hats) It was the 8^th annual Freezin’ for a Reason New Year’s Day Polar Plunge.

            The event has become the annual kick-off of a new year at Mattapoisett Town Beach. It is also an event that reveals the essence of what happens when a community comes together to help one another.

            The crowd was one of the largest yet, and were coming out to support what organizers Will and Michelle Huggins call a “grassroots” event.

            Michelle Huggins explained that the core reason for this fundraising event is to raise money for the unexpected costs associated with a cancer diagnosis. The event was born from their personal experience. After Will was diagnosed with cancer, and once the couple reconciled all that had taken place in their own lives, they reached out to the community for the benefit of others.

            Huggins noted that everything from parking expenses at Boston medical facilities to grabbing a bite of lunch while in the city adds up after a while. People may struggle to make ends meet or simply to fill a gas tank for the trips to medical appointments.

            “There are so many unexpected expenses,” she said. “We’ve been able to help about thirty families over the past eight years,” added Huggins.

            Each year, however, they are never quite sure whether the New Year polar plunge will even take place.

            “Everything is donated from the music to the tent,” said Huggins. “Our friends and volunteers handle everything,” she explained. And for eight consecutive years, luckily everything has come together; families struggling to cover costs even for basic needs are helped.

            The event has become a social media and word-of-mouth success. Huggins also thanked the local press for helping to get the word out.

            With air and water temperatures both hovering around 40 degrees, the crowd was in full party mode as organizers announced, “Ready, set, go!” The young and the not-so-young shuffled forward from the water’s edge to take a quick dip or, for some, testing how long they could stay in the freezing saltwater. Joyous screams and laughter filled the air as prayer flags floated along strings hung from the lifeguard stand to the tent.

            Inside the tent, everyone was welcomed to enjoy a free cup of coffee or hot chocolate, toss a donation in a bucket, or buy some homemade goodies. There were also “I Will” team t-shirts for sale. All the proceeds go into the kitty for the families that will be served.

            As for the participants crowding around the bonfire or gathered in thick clusters all along the shore, the party atmosphere buoyed spirits battered by a cancer diagnosis.

            One group of plungers was there in memory of a two-year-old family member; another for a mother, father, friend – most had been touched by cancer in some way, and all wanted to give their support.

            Huggins said fundraising is a year-round activity for her and her team.

            “We depend on word of mouth and our volunteers,” she said, and each year it grows. A Go-Fund-Me page is set up weeks before the event date, and participation in the plunge is not dependent on a set registration fee, but instead by whatever amount an individual wishes to give.

            “We’re up to about $12,000,” Huggins said in a follow-up a few days after the 2020 event. And if everything works out, the 2021 event will be even bigger. The goal is to get as much cash as possible into the wallets of those facing the ultimate health challenge. Huggins emphasized, “One-hundred percent of all money donated goes directly to the families.”

By Marilou Newell

The box turtle is a common and colorful member of the terrestrial tortoise family. It has an ornate orange decorative shell with bony plates hinging at the bottom to retract its legs and head for protection against predators. Because it is slow and vulnerable, thousands of these placid turtles are killed crossing highways every year or are collected from the wild as pets by children.

            Taking a turtle from the wild is not recommended, as many will eventually die from the stress of having been removed from their habitat.

            Turtles appeal to youngsters, possibly because they read Aesop’s Fables about the Tortoise and the Hare, a moral lesson of ancient Greek mythology written 2,000 years ago. Aesop’s fable taught that achievement of impossible goals, as a turtle winning a race with a hare, could be achieved by youngster determination.

            Box turtles are omnivorous and seem to eat almost everything in a varied diet of insects, earthworms, and millipedes. However, as they grow older, they turn to a 90 percent vegetable diet.

            A box turtle can live as long as 50 and possibly even 100 years; however, the box turtle is listed as a threatened species. The most hazardous part of this lifetime relay into longevity is the starting point of the laying of the egg and into the hatching phase when they strike off on their own.

            As illustrated, they are so small and visibly vulnerable enough to be easily taken by minks, skunks, raccoons, dogs, rodents, and even by crows and ravens.

            The relay race of the box turtle against extinction has surprisingly turned a corner, thanks in part to some local high school students who have been handed a remarkable educational baton of life-giving learning. Inside the laboratory of nearby Bristol County Agricultural High School, turtles are being hatched, fed, and raised during the winter and then released, when much larger, into the wild the following spring. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is overseeing the effort as a possible augmentation of state and federal fish hatcheries. It may be only fitting that the youth are the ones weaving a safety net to fall back on, in case the threatened box turtle grows nearer to becoming endangered.

            The popular box turtle is among the oldest reptiles in the world, going back to the end of the Cenozoic geological age. This was the very beginning of life on Earth for all living creatures. It is said that the reptiles were among those that first crawled up on dry land out of the oceanic primordial soup.

            The future of ancient life on this planet may be supplemented and saved by the next generation of students of environmental awareness.

By George B. Emmons

            Colby Rottler of Mattapoisett is a chef, not a baker. This was professed clearly on December 29 when he gave a presentation on cooking at the Mattapoisett Public Library. Nonetheless, he was not always a chef.

            His first career – and one that he was involved in for decades – was as a banker. But like many people who are good at analytical pursuits, he had a creative part in his brain that wasn’t being fully exercised.

            All that changed when Rottler and his wife attended a dinner at a culinary school. He became enthralled with the manner in which the students presented the dishes they had made: food as theater, food as nutrition, food as gifts one gives to another.

            “I told my wife, ‘I think I want to go to culinary school,’” he said with a wide grin. He was in his early 50s; today he is a well-seasoned chef, pun intended.

            “My kids came to my graduation from Johnson and Wales,” Rottler said. And while he might have been a bit of a curiosity to the other students in his class, as well as the president of the school, Rottler shined. He was in his element.

            “The president said, ‘You’re pretty old for this,’” Rottler remembered. But as an honor student, he was also one of the best. “It was a fun thing to do.”

            Today, Rottler teaches classes at Upper Cape Regional Technical High School, primarily in food safety where he hammers home the importance of cleanliness in the kitchen.

            “Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands!” he repeated.

            Rottler’s style of cooking isn’t fussy, making the home cook feel at ease attempting new twists on old favorites such as meatloaf or macaroni and cheese, which he fed to the participants on this date. Those “comfort foods,” along with apple crumble and a soup he called “pasta fagioli” scented the air in the library’s conference room. It made a gray winter afternoon feel very warm and cozy.

            As for spices, Rottler said that, as a whole, New Englander’s don’t like the hot spices commonly found in traditional New Orleans dishes. He recommends using a small amount of some hot spices such as cayenne pepper.

            “You can always add more, but you can’t take any out,” he cautioned.

            Imparting more practical wisdom, Rottler said that while he has a large library of cookbooks, which he said he “loved”, he does tap into the worldwide library of culinary delights via the Internet.

            “I can travel through thousands of recipes,” he said.

            Rottler encouraged his audience to try different things, explore unafraid, and use up leftovers – but not after five days. Food safety dictates that leftovers should be tossed out after about five days, he said. 

            Above anything, Rottler is sensible when it comes to food preparation, telling everyone that expensive spices, unless used regularly, aren’t worth the investment and that many canned items, especially vegetables, may be used when making a main course such as a hearty soup. For his meatloaf recipe, he shared one of the ingredients: dry onion soup mix.

            When buying fresh fruits for his apple crumble, his Yankee thriftiness shown through once again.

            “I buy whatever apples are on sale,” said Rottler.

            As the participants lined up to sample the foods warming over the hot plates, Rottler continued to emphasis the concepts of food as a creative journey of trying different flavor combinations. After all, what’s the worst that can happen?

            “Just throw it out. Don’t beat yourself up,” he said, and “Try again.”

            On the point of being a chef, not a baker, Rottler explained, “Nay, I’m a chef – bakers are chemists!”

            Rottler can be found cooking for various church venues in the Tri-Town area, as well as continuing as an instructor, imparting his culinary wisdom to the next generation of chefs. But he hasn’t given up completely on the financial side of life: he is an appointed member of Mattapoisett’s Finance Committee.

By Marilou Newell