The wind may be blowing today but I was blown away last night.

The Antelope Valley Desert Divers (AVDD) have been a longtime supporters of Chamber Day through the Chamber Challenge, plus they take a Chamber Evening table. Each year I make the 60-mile drive from Westwood to Palmdale – in rush-hour traffic – to be the speaker for their April meeting and officially accept their annual donation.

For many years, they made a Gold-level $1,000 donation. A number of years ago, they were very pleased to be able to bump that up to Platinum level with a $5,000 donation. So when I schlepped out there last night (and the drive wasn’t all that bad – but I “enjoy” complaining about it), I hoped we’d be getting another $5,000 check. But we’re still in the pandemic and things are still tight for people, and it’s certainly understandable if you can’t give what you used to.

So to say I was blown away is an understatement when they quite proudly (and justifiably so) presented the Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber with a Challenge donation check for . . . TEN thousand dollars. They become the first dive club or shop ever in the history of this event to be a Diamond-level donor. As I said last night, “Holy sh*t!!!!” The pictures tell the story.

On top of that, a number of their board members were in the Caribbean on a dive vacation but arranged to “attend” the meeting via Zoom so they could be part of the presentation. (They can be seen in the laptop that’s being held up in the group picture.

And we mention all of this today not only to give credit where credit is due, but also to emphasize and appreciate the level of dedication and commitment that many of you feel for our Chamber. For some people, coming up with $100 or $1,000 is as significant as it was for AVDD to come up with $10,000. And we deeply appreciate that level of care for our Chamber from many of you.

What’s your level of commitment to our Chamber? Are you willing to make a Challenge donation and keep us moving along? A click on your mouse gets you going. Here’s the link: https://usc.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cTKwbhUykVzL95Q

CHAMBER CHALLENGE 2022 - $61,495 total (Updated 4/12/2022 @ 11AM)
New donors are marked with an asterisk.

Diamond ($10,000 and up)
* Antelope Valley Desert Divers (AVDD)

Platinum ($5,000-9,999)
Beach Cities Scuba
Cyd Yonker
E. & J. Gallo Winery match (Yonker)
In memory of Dr. Jeff Sipsey (Anonymous)
Mike Emmerman, Pat Stockhausen, & TJ
Andrew Pilmanis

Gold ($1,000-4,999)
Dr. Susy Horowitz
Apple match (Siebler)
D.A.N. (Divers Alert Network)
In memory of Dr. Jeff Sipsey (John Delaney)
Jim Collins
Pacific Wilderness
In memory of Dottie Frazier, WDHOF member & diving pioneer (Jeanne Sleeper)
Jeremy & Marlo Wolf Family Foundation

Silver ($500-999)
Dr. Nick & Kim Bird
IQVIA Biotech match (Bird)
Catalina Island Marine Institute/Catalina Sea Camp
Michael Madden
Roy Houston
Gary Williams
Ron & Angi Burkard
Phillips 66 / 76 match (Burkard)
Brad Crocker
Larry Thompson
In memory of Lee Somers, PhD (Karl Huggins)
Don Lake
Rex Uber

Bronze ($100-499)
*Stuart Berryhill
* Brad Callaway
* Christopher Jenkins
* Lisa Beach
* Rane Colvin
* Laurie Kasper
* John Bibb
* Dennis Sandoval
Peter Croke
Matt Levinson
Michael Lewis
Chris Liebl
Doug Iversen
Erin Quigley
Ann Close
Barnacle Busters LGBTQ Scuba Club
In memory of Tom Wetzel (Tabby Stone & Linda Takvorian)
In memory of Matt Cahill (Anthony Bailey)
In memory of Isaac (Melissa Foo)
Gary Sterling
Jean & Jerry Kasper
Wendell Cole
In honor of Di Krall (Kirsten Jenkins)
Debbie Karimoto
David Osorio
Craig Wood
Mike Couffer
Justin Jolly
Ellen Berman
Henry Gittler & Lisette Lieberman
Sharon Depriester
Jens Rubschlager
Roger Carlson
David Kasprzyk
Richard Miller
Cindy Shaw
Mark Perlstein

Other (less than $100)
* Karl Ross
Victor Perez
Brock Dewey
Dan & Betty Orr
In memory of Patrick Bennett (Laura Priess)
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Ken Kurtis – Chairman
Chamber Day/Eve 2022
P.O. Box 634
Beverly Hills, CA 90213
(310)652-4990