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By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

If a couple hundred people call out sick from work or school this week, it could have something to do with Sea Bright.

Amid whipping winds that intensified the already freezing temperature on the tiny town’s beach, at least 500 people — many with questionable sanity — stripped down to their swimsuits and splashed into the frigid waters of the Atlantic Sunday afternoon.

As with many harebrained events, this  one was done in the name of charity. It was the fourth year Sea Bright hosted the Ancient Order of Hibernians’ “Polar Plunge” to raise money for central Jersey parochial schools.

Middletown chapter member Jim Shaw said about 250 people registered for the event and there was at least twice that in spectators.

And how do you get so many people to take their clothes off in such temperatures for a quick swim?

“Definitely just being crazy,” said Hugh Gallagher, a student at Mater Dei High in Middletown. But, he added, “It’s an experience going out into zero degree water.”

That it is. And one Red Bank 18-year-old Kyle Hanko had been looking forward to.

Hanko was kind enough to give redbankgreen a teeth-chattering weather report upon his return to the sand, where he grabbed a towel and sucked down a hot beverage to keep any movable parts from stiffening up.

“It was freezing,” he said. “I’m feeling good, though.”