Keurig VP to speak at ALS benefit in Salem

SALEM – The North Shore Networking Association will be holding a fundraiser May 1 at the Hawthorne Hotel to benefit the ALS Association of Massachusetts, a cause close to the event?s keynote speaker.Chris Stevens, vice president of corporate relations and customer development for Keurig, Inc., a coffee brewer company, will address the audience at the fundraiser. NSNA Founder Michael Kelleher said he reached out to Stevens because he was motivated by a speech he gave at a Baystate Financial Services event at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston last year.Kelleher said he anticipated that Stevens would talk about Keurig?s success story, as Stevens has been with the company since its inception, but he was touched by Stevens? tale of how his friend, Jimmy Culveyhouse, died from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig?s disease. Stevens also wrote about his friend in detail in the 2009 biography “Fighting to Give: The Jimmy Culveyhouse Story.”?I?d seen a good couple handful of speakers, and he?s the best one I?ve heard to date,” said Kelleher, who is also a loan officer for American Trust Mortgage in Swampscott.Stevens said in the same year his wife died of cancer and his two brothers died from Huntington?s disease, he got an email from Culveyhouse, who was two years behind him when both attended the University of Notre Dame. Culveyhouse asked for help raising money to find a cure for ALS, and the two struck up a friendship, with Stevens even becoming his biographer.?The last few months he had to give, he was trying to raise money for ALS. My goal was trying to help him reach his goal of raising a million bucks,” Stevens said, adding that $700,000 has been collected so far between his and Culveyhouse?s efforts.Stevens has since been going around the country raising awareness about ALS, but his keynote speech at the fundraising event will also touch on “living the dream,” with Keurig brewers becoming a consumer sensation.?There are so many opportunities for us to pursue what we love in life, as opposed to what we have to do? I love to try to inspire people to be able to achieve their dreams and overcome adversity,” he said.When Stevens, a Needham resident, agreed to speak at the event, Kelleher said he chose the ALS Association of Massachusetts as the fundraiser?s charity. Stevens is also a part of the ALS Association?s national board of trustees.Kelleher said the NSNA, which was founded in Salem in May 2008, holds one or two charity events each year. Proceeds from the last event went to the Boys and Girls Club of Salem, he said.Kelleher said 150 tickets for the event have been sold, and 50 tickets are left. Two Keurig coffee machines will be raffled off at the event to the first 50 ticket holders.The event will also feature an auction, hors d?oeuvres, a cash bar and music from Glass Onion, an acoustic Beatles tribute band.If You Go? The ALS fundraiserwill be Tuesday, May 1, at the Hawthorne Hotel, 18 Washington Square West, Salem. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $40 per person or two for $70, available online at northshorenetworking.org, by calling 781-367-0068, or at the door.