YIKES!!!! (And a GOOD “Yikes” at that.) We’ve powered past $65,000!!!

A good portion of that comes from an anonymous donation in memory of Dr. Jeff Sipsey. Dr. Sipsey was NOT a diver. But he was an avid hyperbaric guy. Dr. Sipsey started with the Chamber in 1976, during his residency at LAC+USC Department of Emergency Medicine, and eventually moved into the Chamber's Medical Director position until his retirement in 2014. Armed with a truly dry sense of humor he would sometimes quip, "I got the position because I was willing to leave a date at dinner or a movie." He had a wonderful bedside manner and could put an injured patient at ease within moments of their meeting. Even though he wasn’t certified, Dr. Sipsey had more "dive" time, from examination dives he did in the Chamber, than many of the patients he treated. He is missed and we appreciate this donation in his memory.

We also welcome back Louis Weisberg to the roll call of Challenge donors. Lou first got certified (by me) back in 1982 and has remained an occasional but enthusiastic diver since then as well as a regular (and also enthusiastic) Chamber supporter and donor.

We’re roughly at the halfway point in our annual fund-raising and although the Challenge is doing quite well so far, this is NOT the time to relax and think, “They’ve got this covered.” As we’ve mentioned in previous updates, COVID did not change our expenses since we remained at the ready 24/7/365 this past year, and we also have to replace lost class/training income since we weren’t able to conduct those.

You donations matter. So who’s next??? Click on this link and show us your support for our Chamber: https://usc.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dp3rzL7cVCFp1rM .

CHAMBER CHALLENGE 2021 - $65,175
(total on 4/5/2021 as of 3PM - previous update 4/3)
New donors are in bold type and marked with a bullet.

Platinum ($5,000-9,999)
• In memory of Dr. Jeff Sipsey (anonymous)
Mike Emmerman, Pat Stockhausen, & TJ
Cyd Yonker
EJ Gallo (Yonker match)
Susy Horowitz
John & Nanaz Turney
Andrew Pilmanis
Beach Cities Scuba

Gold ($1,000-4,999)
Maja Vrvilo
Jeremy & Marlo Wolf Family Fund
SOCDC (South Orange County Dive Club)
John Delaney
In honor of Dan Rood (DiveVets)
Brett Eldridge
Pacific Wilderness
Dr. Ilan Tamir

Silver ($500-999)
• Louis Weisberg
Scott Barnes
In loving memory of Capt. Tom Binkley, Capt. Tim Burke, and Kevin Binkley (Kim Lancaster)
In memory of Jared F. Purton (Mark Stabb)
Angi & Ron Burkard
Phillips 66/76 (Burkard match)
In memory of Lee Somers (Martha Somers)
Anonymous XXI
In memory of Tom Wetzel (Patti Wetzel)
Ethan Bush
Honoring all the fallen in our diving community (Kevin Glenn)
In memory of Rod “Nasty” Francis (Kimberly Marotta)
Honoring Hope Turney’s 100th birthday celebration (Jill Boivin)
In memory of Lee Somers, PhD (Karl Huggins)
Don Lake
In honor of AOP Husbandry & Dive staff (Jeanne Sleeper)
James Collins
Larry Thompson

Bronze ($100-499)
• Steve & Erika Ladd
• Sajid Ahmed
Stuart Berryhill
In memory of Leon Slavin (Henry Gittler & Lisette Lieberman)
Doug Iverson
In honor of Captain Pat Smith (John Bibb)
In memory of Skip Tucker (Laura Konowalsi)
Matt Levinson
Skip Abelson
Zac Bowland
In memory of Mark Mettler (D.J. Mansfield)
Ellen Berman
diver.net
The Sea Divers Dive Club
Mike Couffer
zen dive co
Tom Gordon
Jean & Jerry Kasper
Rachel Lance
Keith Urashima
Susan Harris
Michael Kennedy
Workday Inc. (matching Kennedy)
Mark Perlstein
Tabby Stone & Linda Takvorian
In memory of Bonnie Cardone (Michele & Howard Hall)
Sandra Stewart
James Hayward
Jarrett Lee
In memory of Annette Hench (Ron Hench)
Michael Slavinsky
Peter Croke
Callie Mack
In memory of Marian Bower (David Bower)
Erin Quigley
John Dawson
Captain Kyaa Heller
Fiona Macfarlane
Dana Rodda
Debbie Karimoto
Richard Miller
Cindy Shaw
In memory of Di Krall (Laurie Kasper)
Laura Priess
In memory of Josh Bouma (DJ Mansfield)
Roger Carlson
Sharon DePriester
In honor of Malyssa Perkins (Rob Peyton)
Honoring Eileen Kenney, COVID fighter (Frank Horowitz)

Other (less than $100)
• Denise Baca
• Karen Bunning
Christopher Madsen
In memory of Shirley Healey (Dee Wilson)
In memory of Rod P.I. Francis (Luis Estenfania)
Dan & Betty Orr
William Edman
Debbie Rubin
Brock Dewey
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Ken Kurtis (Chairman)
Chamber Day/Eve 2021
www.chamberday.org
(310)652-4990