Stamp of approval for worthy cause

By Wendy Shaw

It was a red-letter day for Catholic Women’s League (CWL) members in Launceston when they learned about the success of a charity initiative.

The members have been collecting used postage stamps for about five years and donating them to Sydney-based registered charity Mary MacKillop Today.

The charity then sells the stamps at auctions and to collectors and last year raised $34,600 to help educate children with a disability in Papua New Guinea, fund training programs for poor women in Peru, and provide health care to disadvantaged people in Timor-Leste. Since 2001, Mary MacKillop Today has raised $443,500 from used stamps.

Rosa McManamey, of Trevallyn, is the president of the Launceston CWL and a member of the West Tamar Catholic Parish.

“It was just beautiful to learn of all the good that this fundraising is doing,” she said.

“We might think that one little old stamp is not important, but when they are auctioned or sold to collectors, they do bring in a great deal of money.

“We received a lovely thank you letter from the Mary MacKillop organisation filled with wonderful information about the projects that the fundraising supports in Peru, Timor-Leste and PNG.

“It does an enormous amount of good and it is a lovely thing.”

Anyone who would like to donate used stamps for charity can leave them at the Launceston Catholic Parish office in Margaret St, or look for stamp donation opportunities in their own parishes.

“We were amazed that such a little thing has a big impact,” Mrs McManamey added.

“So many people would not realise the value of stamps. It is wonderful what good can come from things that would otherwise be thrown away and we just encourage everyone to save their stamps and give them to worthy causes such as this.”

There is no need to soak the stamps off the envelopes. Just trim a generous margin of envelope around the stamps. Donations of stamp albums, stamp catalogues and first day issues are also welcome.

Mary MacKillop Today is a member of the Australian Council for International Development.