Posted by Eric Frasco on April 12, 2001 at 13:05:11:
In Reply to: Re: Chamber Day Raffle Prizes -addendum posted by randy54 on April 12, 2001 at 06:24:12:
Randy:
There are essentially two events, Chamber Day, which involves local dive charter operators and divers, with the dive boats donating the proceeds of the day for the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber. There is a set of raffle prizes for this event, and you DO NOT have to be present to win from that prize group.
Chamber Evening is a separate event (although many of us will participate in BOTH Chamber Day and Chamber Eveing), held at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Prizes from a separate list will be awarded and you DO have to be present to win from that list.
Having separate sets of prizes for Chamber Day and for Chamber Evening is a good incentive to participate in both. However, I suspect that many folks would still show up to help support the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber even if there weren't any raffle prizes. In fact, I know people that have purchased spots on Chamber Day boat trips and don't show up to dive. They have the satisfaction of knowing they've made a contribution and helped out.
The ingenious Ken Kurtis and the Chamber Day Committee recently added Chamber Evening (two years ago) so that members of the diving community (who could not go out on a boat during the day) could still participate in the event. The creation of Chamber Evening was a great idea, and it has been wonderfully implemented (and I expect to see Ken wearing the crown again!). Chamber Evening has allowed a much larger portion of the diving community to participate in supporting the one medical facility that is indispensable for treating injured divers.
Selling raffle tickets helps the bottom line. If you are buying raffle tickets only because you want to win prizes, then Ken has found a successful way to get you to participate - by appealing to your own self interest.
Ken and many other members of the diving community work hard every year to make this event happen. We should be thanking these people, not whining about what we are or are not winning.
-Eric Frasco-