My mom (Clarabel) and I are still
collecting stamps. In January we sent off a large envelope full of your
donations, and plan to send more in May.
A group at Indianapolis First Friends collects the stamps and prepares them for sale to collectors. Money raised goes to the Right Sharing of World Resources program. This program works with groups of women in Kenya, India, and Sierra Leone, giving loans to start and run micro-businesses. The women pay back the loans and more groups can benefit. Check out their website to learn more.
Here
are the latest guidelines:
The stamp
program accepts stamps of all issue dates and countries, both used
and unused stamps, sheets of stamps, albums or boxed collections of stamps. Foreign stamps (excluding Canada)
may be left on the postcard or envelope, especially if the envelope has some
special drawing or indication of the country. There
are collectors who like to receive a whole envelope or postcard with
a foreign stamp.
USA and Canada stamps: Cut
the stamp(s) off the envelope or postcard. Leave the perforations on the
stamps. Leave 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch around the stamp so the whole stamp is
preserved, including the perforations. When there is more than one stamp, treat
the group as a unit.
Peelable stamps: Please
leave these on the envelope paper. If you try to peel them off of the paper,
they stick to other stamps, and damage both.
Nonprofit and presorted mail
stamps: All stamps are acceptable, but we want to be financially
effective. If you already have a group of stamps that includes a lot of
nonprofit and/or presorted stamps, just leave them and send them to us.
However, as you are assembling new shipments, we recommend you leave out the
nonprofit ones and the presorted ones, so you are not paying postage for
something of little value.
There
is a box on the library table for your stamps. Keep saving them and we’ll keep
sending off what we have a few times during the year.
Thanks
for your help!