It’s been 12 days since we last updated you and boy do we have good news today.

We are delighted to welcome back into the fold the Sherry Griswold Foundation as they are our largest donor each year, and they again come through for our Chamber with a whopping $17,500 Challenge donation. This goes along with their Chamber Eve table and extra raffle tickets (another $2,500) for a grand total of $20,000. Needless to say, this is a major leap forward for us this year in the Challenge and we appreciate their continued support over the years.

We also want to acknowledge Carl Felien who comes in at the Silver level this year. Like the Sherry Griswold Foundation, Carl has also been a longtime supporter of the work of our Chamber.

We have two and a half weeks to go until Chamber Day 2023 and things have slowed down a bit. This isn’t good. By the same token, we know that a lot of you prefer to wait until we get closer to the end and have your donation push us past whatever our next dollar marker is. Certainly nothing wrong with that.

But as this is being written, there are still 101 Challenge donors from last year, representing almost $43,000 total, who have yet to make a Challenge donation this year. And we certainly hope that most, if not all, of these people will once again reaffirm their financial commitment to our Chamber. If one of them is you, we need your support. And if you’re not one of those folks, we need you as well.

I mentioned this in our “Live @ 5” update last Friday day and I think it’s worth repeating: Think of your support for our Chamber like an annual subscription. Many of the computer programs you use have transitioned to a subscription basis and you pay for these for an on-going basis. Think of our Chamber in that same light.

The difference with our Chamber is that, while we want you to support us on an on-going basis, we really hope you never need our primary services. But that doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from the educational outreach we do and the on-going effort we make to create a culture of safety in our SoCal diving community.

So our Chamber is about more than just treating bent or embolised divers. And THAT’S where your donations play such a critical role. So . . .

Who’s next? Who can push us past $85,000 and beyond? Here’s the direct link to the donation page to help accomplish that: https://usc.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dnemil47PUc8aGy

CHAMBER CHALLENGE 2023 - $84,150 total (Updated 4/16/2023 @ 4PM)
New donors are marked with an asterisk.

Diamond ($10,000 and up)
* Sherry Griswold Foundation
Glenn Suhd
Antelope Valley Desert Divers (AVDD)

Platinum ($5,000-9,999)
In memory of Dr. Jeff Sipsey (anonymous)
Cynthia Yonker
E. & J. Gallo (match)
In memory of Glen Egstrom Ph.D. (Mike Emmerman, Pat Stockhausen, & TJ)

Gold ($1,000-4,999)
Andy Pilmanis
D.A.N.
In memory of David Wolf (Jeremy & Marlo Wolf Family Foundation)
John Delaney
Francesco Cameli
In memory of Isaac Foo (Melissa Foo)
Google match (Foo)
Jeanne Sleeper
In memory of Chuck Nicklin (Allison Vitsky Sallmon & Andy Sallmon)
Pfizer (Vitsky Sallmon match)
Pacific Wilderness
Dr. Susy Horowtiz
James Collins

Silver ($500-999)
* Carl Felien
Ethan Bush
Layne Ballard
Reef Seekers Dive Co.
Catalina Island Marine Institute / Catalina Sea Camp (Ashley Bueche)
Matt Levinson
Jonathan “BJ” & Melissa Jaivin
In memory of Dr. Bill Bushing (Scuba by Design)
Angi & Ron Burkard
Phillips 66/76 (Burkard match)
In memory of Ollie Harris (Dr. Susy Horowitz)
James Whipple
In memory of Lee Somers, Ph.D. (Karl Huggins)
Don Lake
Brad Crocker
Roy Houston

Bronze ($100-499)
* Brad Calaway
* David Osorio
* John Wentworth
* Katie Kozma
* In memory of dive buddy & friend Bob Woods (Sharon Wallin)
* Kyron Anderson
* John Morgan
In memory of Violet (David Hilton)
Callie Mack
In memory of Bob Woods (Jarrett Lee)
Paul Weers
In memory of Steve Barrish (Skip Abelson)
In memory of Bob Woods (Barnacle Busters)
Susan Bangasser
James Ruddick
Laurie Kasper
Gary Sterling
Doug Iverson
In memory of Matt Cahill (Anthony Bailey)
Mike Couffer
Rick Lunsford
Henry Gittler & Lisette Lieberman
Stuart Berryhill
Gina Boster
Chris Grossman – Diver.net
Northrop Grumman (Grossman match)
Dan & Betty Orr
The Sea Divers (Mark Perlstein)
Tom Boyd
In memory of Daniel “Da Boy” Wright
Terry May
In memory of Tom Wetzel (Tabby Stone & Linda Takvorian)
Sharon Depriester
Dana Rodda
Ellen Berman
Mark Perlstein
Richard Miller
Brock Dewey
Erin Quigley
In memory of William Angione 19 UICC ( Jens Rubschlager)
Roger Carlson
Cindy Shaw

Other (less than $100)
Sean Eckley
Deborah Martin
Pfizer match (Martin)
In memory of Dirk Burcham and Dr. Bill Bushing (anonymous)
Diana Rainforth
Ana Christine Tafoya
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Ken Kurtis - Chairman
Chamber Day/Eve 2023
P.O. Box 634
Beverly Hills, CA 90213
(310)652-4990

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