He's making a big, cold swim for charity
Russell Raath wanted to do something bold to raise money for 4 organizations close to his heart, so he decided to dive into the water off the coast of South Africa
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A local exec’s unique approach to charity fundraising: swimming among sharks in South Africa
Russell Raath spent months training for the athletic feat of a lifetime — an open-water swim off the coast of South Africa to raise money for four charities. (Photo courtesy of Russell Raath)
by Cristina Bolling
Charlotte-based business consultant Russell Raath says the power of social media hit home for him when a TikTok he created last November ranting about the Taylor Swift ticket debacle suddenly sparked 170,000 views, leading him to wonder: What if he was able to harness public attention for good?
A Zimbabwe native, Raath decided to give it a shot by doing something outrageous: swimming nearly 5 miles from Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa (where South African apartheid activist Nelson Mandela was incarcerated), to Big Bay in Cape Town.
He’ll make “My Big Cold Swim” on Thursday to raise money for four charities important to him: Charlotte Ballet (of which he’s a board member), Swim Across America, the South Africa-based Make A Difference Leadership Foundation and African charity For Afrika.
“I thought, if social media works the way I think it can work, what if we could reach maybe 100,000 people and they each give me $10? Well, that’s a million dollars. Or maybe we could reach a million people who just give me $1,” said Raath, 52.
It hasn’t quite worked out like Raath had hoped. In a Zoom on Monday from a picturesque park in Cape Town overlooking Table Mountain, Raath said he’d raised about $20,000 so far — a sum he acknowledged made him “disappointed.”
“I just have experienced firsthand now how hard it is to get attention for something that isn’t sort of pop-culture, like a Taylor Swift, or whatever’s in the news,” Raath said. He said he was also hampered by the lack of an internet platform that would allow donors to give directly to one of the charities through his website without having to go to individual charities’ web pages.
Still, he says he’s excited for the swim and is gratified by the money he has raised.
He’s been training for several months, doing some open water swims in Lake Wylie, Wrightsville Beach and lap swimming in pools in Charlotte and wherever his work travel has taken him.
Raath said his swim is registered with the Long Distance Swimming Association and will abide by rules requiring him to have a companion boat alongside him, with no human contact with the exception of someone on board to toss him gel nutrition and to keep a lookout for sharks. The water temperature is expected to be in the mid-50s.
“The only thing they’ll pull me out for is hypothermia or if there’s a shark sighting. I really hope there are no sharks,” he said, “because this has to happen.”
Update — mission complete: In this Instagram post he made Thursday after the swim, Raath reported that he successfully completed the swim in about four hours, and saw no sharks. “I’m glad I did it. I was very, very cold,” he said. “Thank you, thank you, thank you in anticipation for all the support you have given and will give. What a bucket list. I’ve done it!”
Cristina Bolling is managing editor of The Ledger: cristina@cltledger.com
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project