Polar plunges at Main Beach in East Hampton and Beach Lane in Wainscott on New Year’s Day accomplish many things: bracing and exhilarating starts to the year, the company of many hundreds of friends and fellow townspeople, and a chance to secure bragging rights that extend well into 2026. But most important, each serves as a critical fund-raiser for food pantries.

Soon after moving to Water Mill with her family in 2015, Marit Molin became aware of a largely unacknowledged population underpinning the complicated Hamptons economy. That led her to create Hamptons Community Outreach, which is dedicated to meeting basic critical needs to help break cycles of poverty.