Photo gallery: 39th annual Hill Country Charity Ball draws community together at Sendera Springs

The Hill Country Charity Ball Association held its 39th annual gala Saturday night, bringing Kerrville’s philanthropic community together for the first time at Sendera Springs — a new venue for the long-running event — under the theme “The Diamond Desperado: Healing the Heart of Texas.”

Presented by Ken Stoepel Ford, the sold-out evening drew approximately 300 guests to the 231 Avery Road event center. While smaller than some past iterations of the ball, the crowd filled Sendera Springs for a formal night of celebration and giving. This year’s proceeds will benefit five local organizations: Divinity Family Services, Ingram Warrior Homes, the Kerrville Public School Foundation’s Reece Zunker Memorial Scholarship Fund, Impact Guild’s Arcadia Recovery Collaboration, and the Mountain Home Volunteer Fire Department’s Kerr County Swiftwater & Special Operations Team Project.

Association President Jessica Lenard described the evening as “a blessing for the community.”

The HCCBA was founded in memory of Charles Bowmer Schreiner V — known as Baby Charlie — who died of a congenital heart disorder on January 2, 1981, at less than a year old. His mother, Mary Helen Schreiner, convened the association’s first meeting on November 14, 1984, gathering 21 founding members who set out to create something unlike any other event in the Hill Country — formal, themed, and purposefully community-rooted.

The first ball was held May 3, 1986, at the YO Ranch Hilton Hotel, with proceeds going to Sid Peterson Memorial Hospital to purchase a Central Information Monitoring station for its new Intensive Coronary Care Unit. That inaugural event raised $50,000.

In the four decades since, the association has distributed more than $2.1 million to Kerr County nonprofits — an average of more than $50,000 per year — touching nearly every corner of community life, from youth athletics and literacy programs to habitat restoration, hospice care, and disaster response.

Recent years have seen the fundraising reach new heights. The 2021 ball raised $152,000 for Hill Country Youth Ranch. The Arcadia Live Theater received $105,000 in 2022. Arms of Hope collected $120,000 in 2023, K’Star Inc. received $160,000 in 2024, and last year’s ball generated $140,000 for Disabled Outdoorsmen USA.

The association had not yet announced the total amount raised from Saturday’s event. The Lead will report that figure when it becomes available.