Who’s going over the edge? Eighty Huntsvillians who provide proof-positive that people will do anything for money.

Taking the Plunge

Eighty (8-0) people are set to take the plunge off the 150-foot-tall Historic Times building this Friday for charity. You can follow my live updates at ‘Over The Edge’ from noon until 3 pm. Tune in on Twitter at hashtag #OverTheEdge.

[pullquote align=”right”]”My 17-year old gave me a bit of grief about not jumping at the chance, and it turns out I’m more scared of disappointing him.”-Kim ‘Zoot’ Holmes [/pullquote] Today I spoke with Kimberly ‘Zoot’ Holmes a blogger set to rappel the twelve stories down the north side of the building to raise funds for the Heart of the Valley YMCA.

“I’m going over on behalf of RocketCityMom.com [another great Our Valley Events blogger!] because I’m a contributor there.” Holmes reported.

“Originally I said no because I’m terrified of heights, but my 17-year old gave me a bit of grief about not jumping at the chance, and it turns out I’m more scared of disappointing him.” joked Holmes.

Despite her courage, Holmes revealed that the descent almost didn’t happen. Last week she was below the mandatory fundraising goal by nearly $600. To earn the difference, Holmes made a deal with her blog readers to “humiliate myself by dance-walking around town if we reached the goal.”

She Loves to Boogie

It turns out that the small promise of epic embarrassment is all it took for people to open their wallets. In less than 24 hours she reached the $1500 mark, thus qualifying to participate.

Holmes nonchalantly provided Our Valley Events with what she calls “a horribly embarrassing video” of the dance-walk she promised donors. In it she boogies with her young son and daughter through Bridge Street, Big Spring Park and recognizable parts of downtown Huntsville.

The entire video – which is quite chuckle inducing – may be seen by clicking here.

Join In

You don’t have to be repelling like Kim to join in the festivities on Friday! While Kim and her brave cohorts are repelling from the Times Building there will be a street festival below with fun activities for everyone!

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Friday’s FREE street festival includes:

• Kids’ activities
• A climbing wall
• Street art
• A deejay
• Extreme athletes
• And more!

Support

This Friday those crazy eighty taking the plunge will help fund services and programs at the Heart of the Valley YMCA. These services include providing free gym memberships to laid-off workers and soldiers, as well as, contribute to subsidized child care for single parents at the YMCA. Proceeds also fund GO! Kids, a free program for ages 7-12 that fights childhood obesity. To learn more about the YMCA and all its programs, click here. You can also like them on Facebook here.

And kids, a quick disclaimer, please don’t try this at home!

Event Details

Date: Friday, June 15th
Time: 11am – 4 pm
Location: Downtown Huntsville at the Historic Times Building
Cost: FREE!

Follow all the action LIVE! Can’t make it downtown? Not to worry! Follow my live updates this Friday at ‘Over The Edge’ from noon until 3 pm. Tune in on Twitter at hashtag #OverTheEdge

Photo credit: Huntsville Revisited. Find them on Facebook here.