"Stamp Camp"

There is an organization in Pennsylvania which accepts cancelled stamps from all over the US (and the world)------ they take these stamps, magically release them from the paper envelope, and give them to children for their stamp collections. They are trying to give these kids a good hobby, educate them on the stamps from around the world, and promote stamp collecting.

This doesn't cost a thing, except for one stamp of your own to mail them to Stamp Camp, and takes very little time. All you have to do is cut out a small square of the envelope where the stamp is on the letters you receive-- just leave an edge of paper all around the stamp so the people separating the stamps from the paper will have room to work. Just keep putting the stamps into an envelope of your own, and when that envelope is about half filled with your cancelled stamps, put one (unused) stamp on the envelope and mail it off to this address:

Stamp Camp U.S.A., 117 Court St., Suite A, Elkland PA 16920.

It doesn't matter if all or most of your cancelled stamps are duplicates, because they are being given away (free) to children all over the country. Stamps can be from post cards, letters, and even the "free postage" stamps that are sometimes on envelopes from charitable organizations.

This is a good way to recycle those used stamps, and the kids who get them are developing a good hobby that will keep them busy for years. I've been doing this for a couple of years now, but just kept forgetting to mention it here. It's amazing how quickly the envelope fills up with stamps for those kids. I just keep an envelope on my desk, already addressed to Stamp Camp, and I mail it off when it's half filled. Before I put that envelope in my mailbox, I take a new envelope and copy the Stamp Camp address on it so it will be all ready to go when I have enough stamps in it.