Always leave ’em wanting more turned out to be one of the secrets to the Silver Bell Ball’s success – a success that caused Kathryn Kaiser some anxious moments in the hours leading up to the 10th-anniversary edition.
Kaiser was in charge of décor for this dinner and auction that’s held every other year to raise money for the abused and neglected children served by Mount St. Vincent Home. And just when she thought she had everything wrapped up, someone phoned to tell her an additional 15 tables had been sold.
She couldn’t really complain – after all, 150 additional guests would push profits well past the $500,000 mark – but with 24 hours to go, where on Earth was she going to get additional materials to craft more centerpieces? And for that matter, how in the dickens could 15 more tables be squeezed into an already filled-to-capacity Imperial Ballroom at the Grand Hyatt Denver?
Overnight mail and putting the last-minute tables in the ballroom foyer made everything right. “Yes, I know this is a wonderful ‘problem’ to have,” Kaiser said as the first of the 700-plus arrived for the cocktail party and silent auction that preceded dinner. “But, arrgh! It did make me crazy for a while.”
Ten years ago, when Cathy Rinker started the Guild of Mount St. Vincent, the Silver Bell Ball became the former orphanage’s signature fundraiser. A veteran of Denver’s charity galas, Rinker wanted to set the ball apart from the ordinary by having wonderful food, spectacular décor and a blow-your-
socks-off auction. Supporters, she reasoned, would have so much fun that they couldn’t wait for next near. Only there wouldn’t be a next year because festivities would be every other year instead of annually.
Earlier this year, Rinker and her husband, Ted, moved to California to work with her daughter and son-in-law in their Agua Dulce winery, but they returned two weeks ago for the 10th-anniversary edition. Patty Reilly and Kim Monson chaired the celebration, which honored Rinker for both her vision and unending support.
Sister LaVonne Guidoni, who helped emcee Ernie Bjorkman present flowers and a piece of Steuben crystal to Rinker as tokens of appreciation, recalled the day that retired police Capt. Jerry Kennedy brought Rinker to Mount St. Vincent for a look around. “She immediately fell in love with those children and started the guild that very day,” Guidoni said, adding that the $3 million that the Silver Bell Ball has raised has enabled the Sisters of Charity to expand both the facility and the programs it offers.
The Rinkers hosted two tables for the 2005 gala, inviting her former bosses at Saks Fifth Avenue – store manager Kay Cline, assistant manager Nancy Breit and Fifth Avenue Club director Devonne Marcove – and such friends as Colorado Expression chief Terry Vitale and attorney John Head; Jean Berlowitz; Jane Withers; Joanne Katz; and Bev Church.
Others taking part in the celebration were honorary chairmen John and Chris Kelley; longtime supporters Dick and Mary Pat McCormick; WB2 GM Jim Zerwekh and his wife, Sharon, with Bev Martinez of WB2 Gives; former Denver Ballet Guild president Sandy Hagman, whose sister, Jean, is the home’s director of development; Brian and Karyn Deevy; Gary and Mary Margaret Wright; such former chairs of the Mount St. Vincent board as Steve Jewett and John Gomez; the current chair, Jane O’Shaughnessy; Development Council president Dina DePew; Jo and Dewey Dutton; former Mount St. Vincent resident Donald Smith; Rosalin Burns; former Denver Police Chief Ari Zavaras and his wife, Kathy; and Sister Amy Willcott, the executive director of Mount St. Vincent Home.
Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jmdpost@aol.com.
