FOR A GOOD CAUSE:

The customized 19-foot Airstream trailer parked outside designer Barclay Butera’s Newport Beach showroom won’t be there for long.

When he bought it in December 2005, Butera gutted it, completely redid the interior and planned to drive it across America.

Instead, he sold it on eBay Tuesday for $31,650 and is donating the money to Children’s Action Network, a charity dedicated to increasing awareness of children’s issues.

Giving his customers and fellow Newport Beach residents an opportunity to see the trailer also allowed Butera to bring awareness to the charity he’s been supporting for the last eight years.

“I think it’s important because people understand that it’s not all about my company, it’s about also giving back.”

Butera grew up in Northern California, and his family moved to Newport Beach in 1989, opening the interior design firm Karen Butera Inc. in Corona del Mar.

With a degree in political science, Butera went on to law school before deciding interior design was in his blood. He worked in the family business before opening his own store on Westcliff Drive in 1993.

Owning his own design firm and manufacturing company allows Butera to “bring his design ideas to fruition, and take his dreams of interiors and bring them across the country,” he said.

It also gives him plenty of opportunity to spread his goodwill around.

Adding stores in Los Angeles, New York and Park City, Utah, Butera said he gets involved in each community in which he has a location or works.

He’s been actively involved in supporting Newport charities for years.

His Newport Beach store donated proceeds from sales and silent auction items to the Junior and Assistance leagues, and began the tradition of hosting a reception in his showroom following Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor High School’s Home Tours to raise money for their PTAs.

In Park City, Butera supports the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts, but prefers to be more of an active participant in fundraising efforts.

When he learned the Egyptian Theater in Park City, an original venue for acting, was in disarray several years ago, he threw what he called the “Independent Party” in Sundance, then donated all the proceeds from that event to the theater.

“Instead of just donating, I become an active force in promoting the charity, just like I’m doing with Children’s Action Network,” he said.

Barclay may have a lot of Hollywood connections, and his clients do include television and movie stars like Sharon Stone, Renee Zellweger and Josh Groban, but Children’s Action Network was co-founded by actress Kate Capshaw and boasts a long list of celebrity supporters.

Butera will present a check from the sale of the Airstream to the organization at a cocktail reception he is hosting with Elle Decor magazine at his Los Angeles location from 7 to 10 p.m. Oct. 30. The event is free and open to the public, and Butera expects an attendance of about 700.

He said he’s had a lot of fun with the Airstream since it’s been parked outside the Newport Beach store, and that “people in Newport love Airstreams because we have the Dunes.”

Some people in Newport just love Butera. Linda Young, the showroom manager at the Newport Beach location, said she’s “honored to be the manager of the original store,” and described Butera as “a Newport Beach boy who has always liked to do the neighborhoody things.

“What really matters to Barclay is comfort and quality, and all his showrooms, and his own home, are places where you feel like you could just go in and sit down,” she said.

For more information on Children’s Action Network, go to www.childrensactionnetwork.org.

SUE THOENSEN may be reached at (714) 966-4627 or at [email protected].