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OUR HONOLULU
Volunteers at heart of charity ball
| • | Community service groups rely on donated efforts |
By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist
The fund-raising dinner has come a long way in Our Honolulu since Jackie Jones and her crew of husbands and kids blew up balloons for the first Heart Ball in the Hilton Hawaiian Village Dome 25 years ago.
That event for the American Heart Association of Hawaii raised $10,000 from 200 guests. This year's ball at the Sheraton Waikiki on Saturday will top $600,000 from 1,050 black-tie diners for cutting-edge heart research.
It was Jones who introduced the now ubiquitous silent auction as fund-raiser in Honolulu.
She said they sold mostly little vases and figurines by potter Dorothy Okamoto of Kaimuki. The most expensive item in this year's auction is a $71,995 silver BMW. A silver, fold-up bicycle that fits in the trunk will go with the car.
Cartier is donating 50 separate surprise boxes that vary in size from jewelry boxes to attache cases, each containing a gift valued between $150 and $1,060. The boxes will be sold for $100 each to the first 50 people to arrive at the ball. That's a cool $5,000 at one crack, half of the total from the first ball.
In the early days, the tables were decorated by bouquets of flowers that Pat Schnack and her friends gathered from their gardens. This year Macy's West will do the stunning decorations as a contribution.
Twenty-five years ago, Jones, as chairman of the Hawai'i Medical Auxiliary, had to beg for publicity. This year public relations firm Becker Communications is lining up TV interviews and stories in the newspapers for free.
I asked Elizabeth Lacy, the feminine fire engine who's this year's chairman of the ball: What's the secret of raising $600,000 for charity in one night?
"The first thing is the cause," she said immediately. "More people die of heart disease than any other. Earl Bakken, inventor of the pacemaker, buys the top table every year."
The next three ingredients for a successful fund-raiser, she said, are organization, organization, organization.
She said she took the job as chairman of the ball because she wanted to learn how to be a chief executive officer. Now she has a pile of paper a foot high.
The ball will appear to be seamless and accomplished without effort because it took 11 months of work.
"But it couldn't be done without dedicated volunteers," Lacy said. "We try to bring in new people every year and give them small jobs they can succeed in so they'll come back. The second thing is to appreciate them."
The ball does not hire a professional coordinator.
There might be one other reason for the Heart Ball's success. It's the premier black tie event in town, an opportunity for women to dress to the nines.
"There's a lot of curiosity, a lot of mystery among the committee members about who will wear what," said Lacy.
Jones asked, "What are you wearing?"
"I'm not telling," Lacy answered.
