This Gilbert mom's pool challenge puts the fun back in fundraising

To all the do-gooders out there, Beth Muehlhausen advises you to take your cause and go jump in a pool.

Seriously.

She puts her money where her mouth is. The Gilbert woman has taken to leaping into other people’s swimming pools in the name of charitable giving.

(Don’t worry. She got permission, being a real estate agent for the aforementioned homesellers, homebuyers and family friends.)

A lot of us support causes with a check once a year or monthly contributions or by attending an event — God bless those who regularly commit their time through volunteering — which is most welcome, but often perfunctory. Certainly not the level of merrymaking.

People like Muehlhausen find a way to inject just a little joy and anticipation into the practice.

She's jumped in about 75 pools for charity

What started as a lark for her — to showcase a client’s backyard by going down a slide or taking a dip in the pool — became a tie-in to giving back.

To celebrate the sale of a house, Muehlhausen would take a plunge into the pool and make a donation in the name of the homeseller and/or homebuyer.

It started with House of Refuge in Mesa, which helps homeless families, the first year. In the time since, her charity of choice has been Make-A-Wish Arizona, which grants a wish to children with critical illness.

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Over the last 3½ years, that’s been about 75 pools.

On July 30, Muehlhausen will cross off one of her bucket list wishes — to jump in the swimming pool at Chase Field, to raise awareness for the work of Make-A-Wish. (It’s a private invite, hours before the DBacks host the Washington Nationals.)

The other bucket list item is to take a plunge in the pool of decorated Olympian and Valley resident Michael Phelps — “We’re working on that,” she said.

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She welcomes others to do the same, similar to the ALS ice bucket challenge that became viral online a decade ago.

It’s a small act, she’ll be the first to say, but a way to wed charity giving to what she does and the community she does it with.

Food for thought for the rest of us.

“It’s just fun and different. And it’s me, because I’m really a child at heart,” said Muehlhausen, a mother of two adult children.

And we know about kids and their affinity for water.

Reach Abe Kwok at akwok@azcentral.com . On X, formerly Twitter: @abekwok .

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: This Gilbert mom's pool challenge puts the fun back in fundraising