Breast cancer research stamp
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The breast cancer research stamp is a semi-postal non-denominated postage stamp issued by the United States Postal Service priced slightly higher than the standard first-class letter rate. The extra cost goes towards breast cancer research. The postage stamp has become a huge success.
[edit] History & description
In 1996, the United States Postal Service (USPS) Breast Cancer Awareness Stamp (the pink ribbon stamp) was published and did not sell well.
The breast cancer research stamp was the idea of Ernie Bodai, MD, a breast surgeon.[1] Dr. Bodai is a Kaiser Permanente surgeon who performs lumpectomies and mastectomies on women with breast cancer. He spent his money and time lobbying for Congress' approval of the breast cancer stamp. He later began a nonprofit organization, Cure Breast Cancer Inc., to raise money to bring attention to the stamp and the breast cancer cause.
In 1998, United States Senators Dianne Feinstein, Alfonse D'Amato, and Lauch Faircloth sponsored legislation in the United States Congress to create a stamp where a portion of its sales go towards breast cancer research, creating the Breast Cancer Research Stamp. The legislation mandated that 70% of funds raised would go to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and 30% would go to the Breast Cancer Research Program of the Department of Defense (DOD).
Art director Ethel Kessler, of Bethesda, Maryland, herself a breast cancer survivor, was asked by the USPS to design the new stamp. Kessler contacted illustrator Whitney Sherman of Baltimore to create the artwork for the stamp. Directing the project, with feedback from a postal design advisory board, Kessler discussed themes with Sherman that the stamp should depict, such as strength and courage, and to show an ethnically-vague woman. It was Sherman who came up with the solution of using Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt, to symbolize the fight against breast cancer. The female hunter is depicted reaching for an arrow, to symbolizing that she protects women from harm and to mimic the position women take during a breast exam. Sherman's illustration is a black line drawing of the female figure on a vibrant, abstract color field, done in pastel, which gives the stamp its optimistic or uplifting feel. Typographically, Kessler featured the phrases, "Fund the Fight" and "Find a Cure" outlining where the right breast should be.
On July 29, 1998, the Breast Cancer Research Stamp was issued at a White House event hosted by the First Lady Hillary Clinton with Postmaster General William Henderson.
The stamp originally cost 45 cents, which is more than a regular stamp. 70 percent of funds raised are donated to the National Cancer Institute and 30 percent to the Breast Cancer Research Program of the Department of Defense. As of May 2006, US$35.2 million had been donated to the NCI and the Department of Defense had collected US$15.1 million.[1]
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who championed the breast cancer stamp in Congress, calls the Senate's reauthorization of the stamp "good news in the fight against breast cancer." Originally set for a limited run, its release was extended numerous times by acts of the U.S. Congress and now has no end date.
A small town in Georgia Loganville started a campaign to increase sales of the Breast Cancer Research Stamp called Contract To Cure Cancer [2] this campaign succeeded in making the Loganville post office the number one seller per capita of the BCRS.
