Features editor Betty Shimabukuro, my immediate boss at the Star-Bulletin, is pretty popular among publicists and other PR types from both Hawaii and the mainland.

She gets a lot of stuff sent to her. So does Style editor Nadine Kam and Entertainment editor Gary Chun.

But most of those freebies are sent unsolicited, and we don’t have the time or resources to mail everything back.

Our solution? An annual sale open to Star-Bulletin staff, with all proceeds going to the paper’s Good Neighbor Fund.

That first picture was taken just a few minutes after the sale started earlier this month. Once that staff e-mail goes out announcing that things are about to start, however, business quickly picks up:

I’m pretty sure I was wearing a T-shirt and jeans that day.

Nadine, on the other hand, always looks so stylish when she comes to work:

Everything in the room was priced under $10, with many items in the $2 to $5 range. Among the stuff for sale was this nifty piece of gardening equipment:

Press kits are sometimes sent in unique fashion – that lunchbox is one example. And check out the jewelry on top of those do-it-yourself photo cards:

There were a ton of books for sale, too. I picked up a copy of Jamie Oliver’s “Cook with Jamie” for three bucks, and I noticed some of my co-workers walking out with stacks of their own.

Ben Wood picked up some Christmas gifts, including that pair of binoculars:

And Betty shows off a portion of the proceeds:

We ultimately raised $848 that day, with all of the money going to our Good Neighbor Fund.

Want to help? Here’s a little more info:

Contributing to the Good Neighbor Fund

You may also participate in the Adopt-A-Family program, in which businesses, employee groups, social clubs, families or individuals can help a specific family. For information, call 536-7234, ext. 804.

Okay. If you’ve made it this far, I’ve got a Christmas present for the first NINE people to leave a comment.

We have a bunch of CDs left over from the sale, and I’ve got a stack of Primo Beer stickers from the launch party last week. Nine of you will score a three-pack of CDs, which will be available for pickup at the Star-Bulletin newsroom until Dec. 24.

Please post your first name and a valid e-mail (the address is kept private) below, plus a short comment. Keep in mind that comments are moderated and will not post immediately, but I’ll be able to see the order in which they’re posted.

Among the CDs are albums by Don Ho, Keola Beamer, Manoa DNA, Mighty J, The Baraquios, Ho’okoa, Ill Valley and Gordon Mark.

Good luck, and Happy Holidays!

This entry was posted on Monday, December 17th, 2007 at 4:17 pm and is filed under Outside The Club, Picture Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.