Five New Yorkers need your help taking on Canada's world record for the largest snowball fight in history.
The largest snowball fight currently on record was held in Saskatchewan, Canada in January 2016, where more than 7,600 people joined the one-minute battle.
Now, a group of five people are planning to start a snowball fight at 6 p.m. at Heckscher Field and are inviting anyone to participate — and are asking them to contribute at least $5 to donate to the Bowery Mission for the homeless, according to a GoFundMe page they set up on March 13.
"By donating just $5 (or more) and joining us in the most EPIC snowball fight ever, we can truly make a difference!" the page states.
The GoFundMe lists $5,000 as its goal and as of Wednesday morning $90 had been raised.
When reached on Wednesday, organizer Sarah Garratt said she and her four friends — Joe Laresca, Maggie Skorup, Alex Quirk and Caitlin Rusnak — were thinking of what they could do on a snow day and how they could use it to benefit the community.
"When we were brainstorming, my friend Joe said 'What if we did a snowball fight and benefited the homeless community, and what if we went for a world record?' We decided to get everyone involved and it snowballed," she told DNAinfo New York on Wednesday.
The group of 20-somethings was expecting at least two more feet of snow than what fell, but they are still going full speed ahead with the snowball fight, knowing they may not break the record.
They've decided to start the #SnowballEffectChallenge to spread awareness and raise money for the Bowery Mission, much like the "ALS Ice Bucket Challenge" from two years ago.
The friends posted videos of getting walloped with big snow balls for the cause.
"The Bowery Mission was one organization that we found to have one of the longest-standing histories in helping the homeless in New York," Garratt said.
James Winans, a spokesman for the Bowery Mission, said that the organization is working extra hard this week to meet the needs of everyone coming to its doors with safe shelter, hearty meals, dry socks and shoes, and warm hats and gloves.
"Winter storms are disruptive for all of us, but they are especially dangerous for those who are homeless," he said. "We are grateful to the organizers of the 'Snowball Fight to End Homelessness.' The funds will make a big difference for our most vulnerable neighbors, and it sounds like they will have a lot of fun raising the money."
Garratt said that even if they don't break a world record or raise a ton of money on Wednesday night that the most important thing is to raise awareness about homelessness.
"If anyone is unable to give, we hope that they can spread awareness of the need that is there," she said. "Homelessness is a shared experience. Homelessness here is so visible and so invisible at the same time. We want to encourage people to learn more what homelessness is like. We may not solve anything, but we hope to administer more help."
