NEWS RELEASE
Oakland Museum of California
www.museumca.org

10TH & OAK STREETS
OAKLAND, CA  94607

MEDIA CONTACTS
Oona Johnson
oonajohnson@aol.com

Elizabeth Whipple
ewhipple@museumca.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 20, 2007

Oakland Museum of California 2007 White Elephant Sale Sets Record
47th annual rummage sale raises almost $1.4 million!!

The massive 2007 White Elephant Sale, “Sleuthing for Savings,” sponsored by the Oakland Museum Women's Board, has lumbered into record territory again! For the past six years, the sale has cleared the one-million-dollar mark: this year the sale raised $1,388,787.74 in gross sales, an increase of $100,000 over the 2006 sale.

This year’s sales total was a closely guarded secret until today, when 2007 sale co-chairs Rose Jellison of Piedmont and Anne Curran of Oakland made the announcement before an audience of gleeful staff, trustees, volunteers, and Women's Board members. They greeted the news with wild applause.

The legendary White Elephant Sale (“acres of bargains for peanuts”) is held on the first weekend in March at the Women's Board's warehouse, 333 Lancaster St., on the Oakland Estuary. Proceeds from the sale support the Oakland Museum of California's educational programs, exhibitions, acquisitions, and collections preservation. Over the years the Women's Board has contributed more than $13.5 million to the museum.

The sale co-chairs attributed the results of the sale to extraordinary community donations and huge turnouts for the January Preview Sale and the regular sale weekend.

Women's Board volunteers (including many husbands) and hundreds of community volunteers spend the year collecting, cleaning, sorting, and pricing donated new and used merchandise for the annual sale. Now that they have celebrated this year's success, the Women’s Board has begun work on the 2008 sale, the weekend of March 3 & 4.

Please start collecting your donations—the White Elephant Sale truck will be on the move soon! For pickup of large items, call 510/839-5919. For information about drop-off dates, call 510/536-6800 in May or visit http://www.museumca.org/events/elephant.html.

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