US Postal Service "Fund the Cure"

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ALRIGHT EVERYONE, lets do this!!!!!! Please read and pass this on. It would be wonderful if 2005 were the year a cure for breast cancer were found!!!! This is information you should be glad to pass on. The notion that we could raise $35 million by buying a book of stamps is powerful!

As you may or may not be aware, the US Postal Service recently released its new "Fund the Cure" stamp to help fund breast cancer research. The stamp was designed by Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, Maryland. It is important that we take a stand against this disease that affects so many of our mothers, sisters and friends.

Instead of the routine 37 cents for a stamp, this one costs 40 cents. The
additional 3 cents will go to breast cancer research. A "normal" book costs $7.40. This one is only $8.00. It takes a few minutes in line at the Post
Office and means so much. If all stamps are sold, it will raise an additional $35,000,000 for this vital research.

Just as important as the money is our support. What a statement it would make if the stamp outsold the lottery this week. it would make a statement that we care.

I would urge you to do two things TODAY:
1. Go out and purchase some of these stamps.
2. E-mail your friends to do the same. We all know women and their families
whose lives are turned upside-down by breast cancer. It takes so little to
do so much in this drive. I think we can all afford the additional 60 cents the new book costs.

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This has actually been going on since 1998. Here is a more accurate description of the program:

The U.S. Postal Service currently has three 45-cent fundraising or "semipostal" stamps available for purchase at Post Offices, online at The Postal Store, and by toll-free phone order at 1 800 STAMP-24: the Breast Cancer Research stamp, the Heroes of 2001 stamp, and the Stop Family Violence stamp.

The price of a semipostal pays for the First-Class single-piece postage rate in effect at the time of purchase plus an amount to fund causes that the Postal Service determines to be in the national public interest and appropriate. By law, revenue from sales (minus postage and the reasonable costs of the Postal Service) is to be transferred to a selected executive agency or agencies.

The Breast Cancer Research semipostal was issued on July 29, 1998, at a first day ceremony held in the White House. It was the first semipostal in U.S. history.

To date, the stamp has raised more than $40 million for breast cancer research. By law, 70 percent of the net amount raised is given to the National Institutes of Health and 30 percent is given to the Medical Research Program at the Department of Defense.

Designed by Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, MD, the stamp features the phrases, "Fund the Fight" and "Find a Cure" and an illustration of a mythical "goddess of the hunt" by Whitney Sherman of Baltimore.