Submitted/Jen Sharp, Skydive Kansas
Jeremy Struemph, grant specialist at the KU Center for Research, lands and quickly changes parachutes as a plane waits to take him skyward for another jump June 14.
Staffer breaks one-day skydiving record to combat abuse
By Mike Krings
How to help
For more on the Kansas Coalition for Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, visit www.kcsdv.org. For information on how to donate, visit www.skydivekansas.com.
Struemph, a grant specialist at the Center for Research, broke the Kansas record for most skydives in one day on June 14 when he made 53 jumps to raise awareness of domestic violence and sexual assault. The previous record was 40 jumps.
"It's thought that the 53 reported cases are only about 20 percent of all incidents. We were thinking about a charity event and thought domestic violence and sexual assault doesn't get a lot of attention," he said.
Struemph's record-breaking day also raised about $3,000 for the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence.
He made his jumps at Skydive Kansas headquarters in Osage City. The first flight took off at 6:10 a.m. By 2:30 p.m. he had parachuted into the record books. And he only had to use his backup parachute once.
Normally, a skydiver jumps from an altitude of about 10,000 feet. To keep a quicker pace, Struemph jumped from about 2,200.
"I'd jump out, immediately deploy my chute, spin down, and someone would be waiting there for me on the ground with a new rig. While I was putting it on, the plane would be landing. Then I'd get on and do it again," he said.
About 15 fellow skydivers volunteered to pack chutes and fly the plane. They raised money by taking pledges and selling jumps from the five-seater plane during his runs. All of the funds raised went to the coalition. Struemph, who monitors, bills and makes sure grants are spent properly, started jumping just a few years ago. Now he jumps from a plane nearly every weekend and is a skydiving coach. He recently made his 500th jump.
"A couple of years ago, some friends and I jumped. I landed and immediately made my appointment to go back the next weekend," he said.
The rush of jumping from a moving plane and being able to help new jumpers experience the same feeling keep him coming back. Next year, he hopes to stage another charity jump. Except next time, he plans to up the stakes to 100 jumps. He has no immediate plans of trying to break the world record of more than 600 jumps in one day.
The effort generated a good amount of publicity, with several media outlets covering the jumps and a radio station broadcasting live from the site.
"That was the main thing we wanted to do," Struemph said. "Raising the funds was great, but we wanted people to know there's an organization out there that helps."
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