We made it past $80,000 and are closing in on a new record for the Challenge!!!

The biggest part of the push comes from Antelope Valley Desert Divers (I’m always afraid I’ll call them “Antelope Valley Dessert Divers”). Their club is very active in supporting many worthwhile causes and they have been making a Platinum-level $5,000 Challenge donation for a number of years now. This year, a number of their Board members (who authorize the donation) are in Belize and actually joined us via Zoom to help make the donation official. But the club’s effort is somewhat bittersweet this year, as it’s being made in the memory of their past president Mike Orlando, who passed unexpectedly last fall (non-COVID). Mike was the driving force behind many of the club’s philanthropic endeavors as well as the guy who got them to go from $500 to $1,000 to $5,000 on their annual Challenge donations. We’re very happy to have their continued support but will miss Mike’s participation.

We’ve also got a Gold-level $1,000 donation from D.A.N., the Divers Alert Network. D.A.N. not only is there for divers, but also supports chambers all over the world with special grants, and we qualify again this year.

And covering the third of our major donation levels in this update, we want to thank Rex Uber, a longtime diver and supporter of our Chamber, with his annual $500 contribution.

We’ve now got less than three weeks to go and we are tantalizingly close to eclipsing the record set last year. We can only do that with YOUR support and, as time is drawing short, we hope you’ll go to our website, and give our Chamber the support it so richly deserves. Here’s the direct link to the donation page: https://usc.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dp3rzL7cVCFp1rM .

CHAMBER CHALLENGE 2021 - $83,025
(total on 4/15/2021 as of Noon - previous update 4/11)
New donors are marked with a bullet.

Diamond ($10,000 & up)
Glenn Suhd

Platinum ($5,000-9,999)
• In memory of Mike Orlando (Antelope Valley Desert Divers)
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)
• D.A.N. (Divers Alert Network)
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)
• Rex Uber
Deep Blue Scuba & Swim Center
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 BushHonoring 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)
In memory of Ann Heinzer (Doug Lada)
Barnacle Busters LGBTQ Scuba Club
Lionel Galway
Gary Sterling
In memory of Brittany Singer (Pete Hill)
David Osorio
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 Konowalski)
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
————————————————
Ken Kurtis - Chairman
Chamber Day/Eve 2021
P.O. Box 634
Beverly Hills, CA 90213
(310)652-4990

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