‘Shark Tank Showdown’ raises $70K for two LI disability organizations
Divers took a plunge into a shark tank this week at Atlantis Aquarium in Riverhead to raise money for two organizations that support children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The second annual “Shark Tank Showdown” fundraiser featured six divers outfitted with scuba apparatus and wetsuits to be lowered into a 120,000-gallon shark tank to benefit the People’s Arc of Suffolk and Rise Life Services, which co-hosted the event on Tuesday, March 31.
“For years, people with disabilities or mental health challenges were made to live in institutions and they shouldn’t have been,” said Jeanette Permenter, CEO of Rise Life Services. “This is about giving them the opportunity to live a regular life just like you or I.”
Each diver spent about five minutes underwater, coming up close and personal with the sharks and other fish in the massive tank. The dives were also broadcast onto large screens throughout the aquarium for dinner-goers to watch.
“There’s a lot of people who aren’t aware of what people with disabilities can do,” said John McGuigan, CEO of People’s Arc of Suffolk. “They’re capable of anything when given a chance, whether that’s in the workplace, or in the arts or any other opportunity.”
The event was emceed by Long Island comedian, host and TikTok sensation Tom Kelly, who has also served as a warm-up comic at ABC’s The View, Good Morning America, The $100,000 Pyramid, Lucky 13 and America’s Got Talent.
“My mother worked for this organization in the 1970s and 80s,” said Kelly. “To see what it has grown into and the incredible work that it does helping so many people is fantastic.”
Another reason Kelly got involved with the event was very personal to him.
“I was a former male mermaid in an underwater show at Weeki Wachee Springs in Florida,” laughed Kelly. “One of the few things I don’t have on my scuba checklist is swimming in a tank with a shark. So that life checklist item will be accomplished tonight.”
