Posted by Wayne on March 31, 2002 at 16:53:03:
In Reply to: Chamber Day posted by Bob on March 31, 2002 at 09:21:54:
How can we dive here and not want to support the chamber that keeps our safety net in place?
It is easy to think only of our own needs. Possibly thinking things like, "I am a careful shallow water diver with years of experience and will never need a chamber for the kind of diving I do." While this might be true of some of us, it is not an accurate way to evaluate the benefit that we all get from a local chamber.
We all benefit from having a variety of local dive boats. We all benefit from having a wide choice of dive shops. We all benefit from the sale of gear sold to others keeping the prices in check when we want to buy our gear. We all benefit from new diver training to keep our sport alive and prosperous.
If we did not have our chamber, people would be more severely injured and our sport would have a bad reputation as a dangerous activity. It is misunderstod by non-divers enough now, but if we bent a few more people and left them disabled, the new students would all but dissappear. This would collapse out local diving economy and we all would be struggling to find air and gear at reasonable prices. Anything that promotes safety ought to be supported by all of us.
For local divers to sit back and not ante up at the chamber shows poor judgement. It is like enjoying public television programing and not stepping up to pay for the service it provides. Many, many people free load off PBS's subscribers, but we, the local divers, should never take our chamber for granted. Also, we should never take for granted the many people who step up and donate their time and resources to keep this chamber available to any diver at any time.
If you dive, you should support the chamber. If you love a diver or anyone in the dive community, you should help to maintain the chamber. We have it pretty nice here and for less than the price of a decent dinner for two, you can help a good cause and you may even win outstanding prizes that have been donated by the finest members of the dive community.
Even if you can't donate much, you should look to see which boats, stores, and manufacturers have come forward with donations. Steer your busines in their direction and let them know that you noticed their involvement and support them with your business because of it.
I am looking forward to Chamber Day. See you there.
Wayne
Just another diver who appreciates having a local chamber -- Just In Case.