Photograph by Scott Lechner
Karen Krueger will go to the ends of the earth 'In Pursuit of Paradise.'
Silicon Valley Charity Ball
If anyone can bring the theme of this year's fundraiser to life, it's Saratogan Karen Krueger
By Mary Ann Cook
Just what does it take to raise a million dollars? Well, for Saratogan Karen Krueger the main requirements are two--the ability to think big and the stick-to-it-iveness to attend to an avalanche of details. Krueger has been in charge of the Silicon Valley Charity Ball for the past five years, three times as co-chair, and for the past two as a solo act.
In 1996 and 1998 the event raised $1 million, thanks in large part to the introduction of an auction as part of the ball, an idea conceived and executed by co-chairwomen Paulette Beemiller and Karen.
This year the ball, "the most sophisticated ball in Northern California," Krueger terms it, will be held May 1 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center and is expected to raise $1 million again, with the Smothers Brothers as featured entertainers.
The money raised in this formidable fundraiser will be distributed to 53 different charities. The beneficiaries are determined over the summer from grant proposals received by the SVCB board.
That methodology "really struck a nerve," Krueger says. "I like the idea of giving directly to a charity for a specific reason. That's how the Silicon Valley ball is run."
The board of the 13-year-old charity is heavily represented by Saratogans. Besides Krueger, who is a vice president, there's also Lori Fox, president, and Saratoga City Councilman Nick Streit, treasurer. Michael Fox Jr. is chairman of the Valley Visionaries, those industries that donate a lump $50,000 each to help sponsor the ball.
Lynne Streit is co-chairwoman of charity review, the committee that decides which charities will be the year's beneficiaries. Yet another Saratogan, J.P. Puette, is the chairman of the Founders Scholarship Award, given annually to two high school seniors who are active volunteers in an agency that benefits from the ball.
For Krueger, the most rewarding part of her job is when the money is presented to the ball beneficiaries in July. "I get choked up just thinking about it," she says. "Realizing that this money we raise will make an impact on all those lives."
Krueger cites Gwen Peters of San Jose Neighbors that Care as a beneficiary she feels particularly strongly about. "Gwen can make money stretch more than anyone I know, and she gets the most out of every gift, finding exactly the right person, the neediest recipient," Krueger says. "This year she said it was time for others [to benefit}, but we insisted she apply again. That's just how she is."
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Photograph courtesy of Karen Krueger
Karen Krueger doesn't believe in doing things small. In 1998, nothing less than the Manhattan skyline would do for the 'New York, New York' theme.
Neighbors provides food (125,000 pounds a year) and clothing to the needy and operates through Twin Palms Church in the Evergreen area. About her involvement in Neighbors, which she started seven years ago, Peters says, "You show me the figures, [about poverty] but I can show you the faces."
Neighbors that Care will receive $25,000 to purchase school clothes, a repeat of last year. "It's all well and good to tell youngsters to stay in school, but some don't have any clothes to wear," Peters says. In other years Neighbors received money for a van and a pick-up truck from SVCB.
"They have changed hardship to hope" in many cases, says Peters, whose group has been a recipient four times.
Another beneficiary is RAFT (Resource Area for Teachers.) At this warehouse in Sunnyvale teachers can get art, math and science supplies for a pittance, as well as training in how to best use the materials. RAFT is four years old, founded by former teacher Mary Simon.
RAFT picks up surplus or discarded materials from businesses "to augment what the teacher does in the classroom," says Simon. It costs $35 yearly to belong to RAFT, and 3,000 teachers are members. SVCB has provided money for two trucks and a forklift to this operation through the years.
"We are a very community-oriented agency. Job training for the handicapped is part of our operation. They (SVCB) are a great partner," says Simon. "We couldn't have done without them."
The SVCB is a year-round commitment for its planners, and certainly for its chief functionary. "I get calls or faxes nearly every day about the ball, no matter what the month," says Krueger. The month before the ball the action--and her life--really heat up: she eats on the run and sleeps fitfully.
"That last month I stop cooking, and I wake up at least once during the night, thinking of some detail I've overlooked. I get up, make a note of it, and go back to bed." Now that the ball date is getting perilously close, she gets something like 15 calls or letters each day, as well as half a dozen faxes. Immediately after the ball is over, she and husband Robert leave for a vacation.
Actually, the whole Krueger family is involved. Sons Mike, Kevin and Brian, all of whom live in Texas, are flown in for the weekend to help put the finishing touches on the gala. This year Mike's wife will be added to the melange of family workers.
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Photograph courtesy of Karen Krueger
Even the Statue of Liberty was invited to the 1998 ball, themed 'New York, New York,' and in classic Krueger style, Miss Liberty was anything but subtle.
The two younger boys are students at the University of Texas in Austin. They'll put the centerpieces together or whatever else is needed. Volunteers from the various agencies that benefit also help the ball committee set up on the day of the festivities.
Because of her assembly-line precision, Karen and crew can get the centerpieces put together in a mere 90 minutes. That's 350 centerpieces, mind you, since the number of people expected is 3,500. Some 8,500 invitations are sent out.
Working on the centerpieces was the initial snare that enmeshed her and has tied her energies to the ball since 1992. The first year she got involved she was just looking things over when "Heather Downs dragged me into her [centerpieces] committee."
Downs made an inspired choice because it was Krueger who figured out how to keep the angel hair, lights and stars afloat and yet anchored for the '93 ball themed "In Your Wildest Dreams." Her secret? "It's the Martha Stewart in me," she explains simply.
From then on she became a centerpiece mainstay. The next year she kept 1,000 anthuriums fresh in her bathtub for four days, after they were flown in from Hawaii. And she and friends plucked and sprayed to a golden turn 350 curly willow in her backyard.
It took two years before the lawn was fully green again. That endeavor won her the Volunteer of the Year Award from the ball committee, a recognition fraught with embarrassment. "Don't make me say anything," she hissed to then-president Jerry Beemiller.
Though others find it hard to believe, she describes herself as very bashful. She's still ill at ease at the podium, but not nearly so fearful as she once was. "I've really grown in this job. I get more out of this ball than they get from me."
After that bath-and-gold episode, she was appointed to the SVCB board and that started her event co-chair duties: first she was teamed with Heather Downs and Paulette Beemiller, next with Gerry Beemiller, and third with Paulette again.
The Beemillers of Saratoga are two of the original 10 founders of the SVCB and linchpins of the entire organization, says Krueger. The concept the founders envisioned for the ball was twofold: to celebrate Silicon Valley and to give back to the community.
Now, although Krueger has no plans to step down soon, two other individuals are being groomed to take her place. They are Keith Millar and Mindy Trinidad. Each year Krueger delegates more and more responsibilities to others, and she realizes that a younger generation needs to be prepared to step into the picture.
So how did she get to be the party-giver-extraordinaire? It all started with her eldest's 2-year-old birthday party, and he's 33 now. "It was a circus theme and I made hats for everyone. I always sewed everything--big things, drapes, tablecloths. I can visualize big, having lived in Texas. I get a vision.
"I know what needs to be done, what needs to be included. I'm very detail-oriented, a control freak." She continued with birthday parties that were extravaganzas, and she was active in school functions when her boys were in school.
Even Grad Night at Saratoga High School found Krueger at work and outfitted--this time for outer space, complete with silver antenna--even though her youngest had already moved back to the Boston area to finish high school where he had begun. "He's bashful too," she says.
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Photograph courtesy of Karen Krueger
Once Karen Krueger's flair for centerpieces became known, the demand for her talents in planning the Silicon Valley Charity Ball was a foregone conclusion. Here, she works on decor for the 1994 ball, themed 'Pearls of the Pacific.'
When everyone else has gone home to gussy up for the ball, Krueger is still hard at work--she's the last one putting finishing touches on before the ball. "I need to make the tables extra special for the Visionaries. (Those businesses that have made $50,000 donations.)
"Last year I made sure the men had chocolate cigars (handed out by cigarette girls decked out in '40s nightclub mode), and the women had roses. I personally finish the Visionary centerpieces."
The Valley Visionaries for 1999 are Adaptec, AMD, Applied Materials, Arrow Electronics, Century Microelectronics, Cisco Systems Foundation, Compaq Computer, Guidant, KLA-Tencor, Silicon Graphics, Therma and Viasystems Group.
The theme this year is "In Pursuit of Paradise," and guests can pursue a treasure hunt during cocktails, with the treasure a drawing for a cruise. The cocktail area will represent the lost country of Atlantis; Then it's dinner in a jungle setting, followed by entertainment from the Smothers Brothers and finally, dancing.
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Photograph courtesy of Karen Krueger
In 1997, the theme was 'Under the Big Top,' and the trick was to keep modern-day influences out of the 1940-1950s style decor.
Music is by Pete Escovedo Orchestra's Latin beat and Dick Bright's SRO. A Smuggler's Cove is set up in another part of the center for games of chance for those who eschew dancing. Upstairs will be decorated like the Caribbean, where pirates lurk. Hey, wait, these guests have already paid their $250 per ticket entry fee.
About this year's centerpieces, Krueger divulges that guests will take home parts of them as gifts. But of course the most significant reward these guests take home from this million-dollar evening is the satisfaction of making a difference to others.
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Saratoga, California Since 1975
