More than 500 tickets for this year's April 30 Silicon Valley Charity Ball were sold to the $250 per person event before the invitations went into the mail in early April.

"My goal is to sell 2,000 tickets," says Donna Rubin, who is co-chairing this year's event with Lynne Meyer. "Last year, we were turning people away the whole month before the ball."

The popularity of the ball is moving it back to the San Jose Convention Center, the place where it had attracted as many as 3,000 revelers and regularly raised more than a half-million dollars a year. Although it raised more than $10 million and benefited 175 local nonprofits, the slumping economy ended the ball's 16-year run in 2002.

At the ball's office on The Alameda, it looked like a very good thing had run its course as the phones rang less and less and volunteers moved on.

Then, at the urging of board president David Heiman and Rubin, Lynda Evjen took it on. The Los Gatos resident is a veteran fundraiser who chaired the 1999 Cattle Baron's Ball, which raised more $1 million for the American Cancer Society. Evjen started by founding a Silicon Valley Charity Ball League of socially prominent women volunteers willing to work on the event and promote it year-round.

The return of the ball in 2004 with Evjen's "Cinderella Ball" theme was a success, attracting 1,200 to the Fairmont Hotel and raising more than $600,000.

With a waiting list of 400 a year ago, it made sense to return to the larger convention center venue.

Evjen initially agreed to co-chair the ball this year with Meyer, but health reasons forced her to withdraw.

"Lynda did an enormous amount for the ball and her presence is missed," Heiman says. "She's a very positive person with an outgoing and can-do attitude. She leaves a big hole, but we were able to build a strong board and our bench is pretty deep at this point. We were able to have other board members step in and fill the areas she oversaw."

Rubin, who helped recruit Evjen initially, stepped in to take her place, overseeing finances, procurement, underwriting and marketing.

Meyer continued to oversee the logistics of the ball, including entertainment, décor, invitations, the silent and live auctions, parking and coordinating the volunteers.

The Silicon Valley Charity Ball will be on April 30, 6 p.m., at McEnery Convention Center, San Jose. Tickets are $250 per person. For tickets or additional information visit www.svcb.org or call 408.260.0594.