The USC Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber is dedicated to diver safety and as such, we put the well-being of anyone, diver or non-diver first. This includes our fund-raising efforts. While the need for public funding of our Chamber is very real and ongoing, it cannot override our responsibility to safety and the mitigation of risk.

The CDC has issued guidelines requesting no gathering of groups larger than 50 for a period extending through at least May 9. Since Chamber Day 2020 is scheduled for May 6, that includes us.

Accordingly, and in our commitment to keep people safe, aspects of Chamber Day that require
in-person attendance are being removed and are being folded into other aspects of the fundraiser which accommodate virtual participation.

The four primary aspects of Chamber Day are:
• Chamber Day – 2 dives at Catalina and a walking tour of the hyperbaric chamber
• Flying Dutchman – our mythical boat for those who can’t take a day off
• Chamber Challenge – a straight donation to the Chamber’s operating fund
• Chamber Eve – a sit-down dinner at the Aquarium of the Pacific and
the culmination of the event

The Chamber Day dives and the Chamber Evening dinner are being eliminated. That being said, we will continue with the Flying Dutchman and the Chamber Challenge. We will also continue to take orders on-line for t-shirts and we are working on a plan on how to deal with the raffles (and how you will be able to buy extra tickets). Here is the plan moving forward:

IF YOU ALREADY SIGNED UP FOR CHAMBER DAY
Per the cancellation notice when you confirmed our boat spot, you will be moved to the Flying Dutchman, you’ll get some extra Day raffle tickets, you’ll still get a Day shirt, and $20 will be credited in your name to the Chamber Challenge.

IF YOU ALREADY SIGNED UP FOR CHAMBER EVE
Your donation of $120 will be credited in your name to the Chamber Challenge and we will send you five special raffle tickets for an alternate Chamber Eve raffle.

IF YOU PLANNED ON DOING THE DUTCHMAN BUT HAVEN’T SIGNED UP YET
Nothing changes. Please sign up, give us your “pirate” name, and whichever store or club referred you.

IF YOU PLANNED ON DOING CHAMBER EVE BUT HAVEN’T SIGNED UP YET
Instead of $120 for dinner, we hope you’ll take that money and make it a donation to the Chamber Challenge. Every time we see a $120 Challenge donation, we will send that person five special raffle tickets for an alternate Chamber Eve raffle.

IF YOU WILL DONATE TO THE CHALLENGE BUT HAVEN’T DONE SO YET
Please do so. We absolutely need the help.

For a number of reasons, it’s impractical for us to postpone this event to another date. By the same token, the money raised from this event is needed in a timely fashion to cover on-going Chamber expenses. To delay the event would severely impact the Chamber’s cash flow and might affect the availability of our Chamber. So we think this is the best possible alternative.

In reality, the only thing that really changes is that some of you won’t be able to do a few dives and some of you won’t be able to mingle at Scuba Prom (aka the Chamber Eve dinner). But we sincerely hope you won’t abandon our Chamber in the same spirit that your Chamber won’t abandon you.

The need for financial support from the diving community is real and even more urgent this year with everything else that’s going on. Chamber Day 2020 is NOT being cancelled, it’s merely being altered to conform to the new realities which we all need to cope with. We hope you’ll understand and, as importantly, we hope you’ll still have our backs with your continued financial support.