(Posted 5/12/09 - last updated 5/5/09)

Nothing like a $10,000 rush at the end of the event to make your day . . .

$47,115. What an amazing total. It comes with an amazing story too.

As you've doubtless heard, six of the boats made a weather call and opted not to go last Wednesday. An instructor who was on one of the cancelled boats decided to use the newly-found time to catch up on a pool session with a private student. When the student found out why the instructor was available the student said, "I guess they must be losing out on some revenue because of the boats that cancelled. Maybe I can help a bit." And he wrote out and handed the instructor a check for $5000. He asked to remain anonymous and simply be listed as "Scuba Angel." (But he lit five candles with his generous donation.)

Plus we'd like to single out John Delaney for praise as another Gold-level donor with an $1100 contribution. John's been a longtime supporter of the Chamber and also lights another candle on the birthday cake. And we don’t want to forget Don Lake, Dave Carver, Rebecca Jackrel, and Maja Vrvilo each with a $500 donation and helping us light two more candles. (Plus La Verne Eco Dive Club upped their donantion to the Silver level as well.) Which brings us to another interesting point.

When we started this out, we didn't really know if we could get all the candles lit at $1000/candle but we thought it was worth a try. but we pleased to report that with our latest donations, we've got 36.5 candles lit, which leaves us 1.5 candles to grow on. So thank you all very much.

And we will keep the Challenge open for late donations through June 3, which is the re-sked date for those boats who didn't make it over on May 6. So . . .

Anyone wanna get us over $50,000???

CHAMBER CHALLENGE 2009 - $47,115 total (Updated 5/12/09 @ 3PM - last updated 5/5)
(* New donors are marked in bold with an asterisk)

Platinum ($5000 and up)
* Scuba Angel
OCDiving.com
Michael Kane

Gold ($1,000-4,999)
* John Delaney
Anonymous
Hollywoodivers
Ocean Institute
Beach Cities Scuba
Robert Wagner
Mike Emmerman
Pat Stockhausen
T.J. Emmerman
Scuba.com
DiveNav, Inc.
Pacific Wilderness
Sport Chalet
Laurie Kasper & Ken Kurtis

Silver ($500-999)
* Don Lake
* Maja Vrvilo
* Rebecca Jackrel
* Dave Carver
* La Verne Eco Dive Club
DiveVets
Eo Ong (Burbank Dive Club)
ConocoPhillips/Union 76
Jim & Nancy Krasne
Scuba Schools of America
Karl Huggins
CA Diving News/The Scuba Show
Dr. Susan Grant

Bronze ($100-499)
*** LAUPS
** Sundiver Crew (donating their Ch-Day tips)
* Sundiver passengers
* Pat Chock
* Jeff Kelly
* Nicolas Coster
* Craig Oberlin
* Barnacle Busters
* Pat Smith
* Bob & Laura Mosqueda
* Bruce Wyrwitzke
Anonymous UCLA Bruin
Erin Quigley
Kathryn Cody
Hal Greenberg
Marvin Oliver
Angi Froehlich
ConocoPhillips/Union 76 match
Jonathan Kerr
Mark Stabb
Elaine Jobin
Maria Carillo High School
Matt Levinson
Derek Smith
David Osorio
Joe Takahashi
Allen Dekelboum, MD
Thomas Carr
The Deep (RVM Associates)
California Wreck Divers
Gorman Dive Adventures & Travel
Mark Lacaillade
Diver.net
In memory of Robert W. Myers
Mark Windham
Chris Rybak
ConocoPhillips (Rybak matching grant)
Steve Benevides
Meg Donat
Jim Hall/Lobster Festival
Dr. Louis Weisberg
Laguna Sea Dwellers
Frank Huntley
Mark Carry
South Orange County Dive Club
Ocean Adventures
Lost Patrol Dive Club
Roy & Linda Houston
Great Escape Charters
Deborah Huh
Nicole Jurisch
In memory of Fran Ollweiler
The Sea Divers
Debbie & Derek Karimoto
Rex Uber
Renee Calderwood
Brock Dewey
Divematrix.com
Marc Hall
Team CK
Michael Swinney
Kevin Augarten
Susy Horowitz
www.indianvalleyscuba.com
Walt & Tori Watson
Randy Barker
Jim Haw
Gary Sanders
Henry Gittler
Jerry Nickelsburg

Others (less than $100)
Laurel Valker
Hedy Henderson

Ken Kurtis
Chairman, Chamber Day/Eve 2009
www.chamberday.org
310/652-4990