Quaker Missions Stamp Project

Midcoast Meeting has contributed canceled stamps to the New England Yearly Meeting Quaker Missions Stamp Project for the past several years. It is administered by the Mattapoisett (Massachusetts) Monthly Meeting. Some of the organizations that have benefited from this project include the Friends World Committee for Consultation, the Ramallah play center for Palestinian refugee children, the women’s brick kiln operation in India, and some twenty-five other good causes.

The seed for the Quaker Missions Project was planted at New England Meeting in 1996 during a workshop about FWCC (Friends World Committee for Consultation). It took more than six months to begin to gather used postage stamps clipped from mail with the intent they could be sold to raise money for FWCC and worldwide “good works” sponsored by Right Sharing of World Resources, International Quaker Aid, and others. Mattapoisett Friends expect this will be an ongoing project as long as there is a market for the stamps, which so far has proven to be the case. According to information posted on their Web site, they have been able to sell all the stamps they have received and are especially interested in receiving foreign commemorative stamps.
FWCC will continue to be the prime beneficiary. Projects of Right Sharing of World Resources, International Quaker Aid, as well as other organizations, will also be helped. The funds raised are designed to help people of all races and all faiths who are in need all over the world.

Tips for Stamp Savers
Use special care in clipping or tearing stamps from envelopes. Obviously, damaged stamps (clipped perforations, tears, thinned paper because stamps have been peeled from envelopes, etc.) have no resale value and should not be sent.

Use commemorative stamps on all of your mail and encourage your correspondents to do the same. You can ask for them at your post office. For example, the special Century stamps that were issued in the year 2000 net the project 22 cents each.

Make contact with a business or businesses that receive a lot of bill payments by mail and clip the commemoratives. If you know of someone who gets foreign mail, tell them about the project.

The Christmas holiday is a good time to begin saving stamps. All stamps are accepted; the most valuable are those from other countries and U.S. special issues.

Thank you to all Midcoast Friends who have been bringing their stamps. There is an envelope on the P&SC bulletin board in the social room to receive stamps, or, if you prefer, you can mail them directly to Quaker Missions, Mattapoisett Friends Meeting, PO Box 795, Mattapoisett, MA 02739, or visit http://home.comcast.net/~mattapoisettquakers/stamps.html to learn more.