At 11 a.m. on Thursday, October 1st, Eugene Platt of James Island will do his part to help kick off Breast Cancer Awareness Month by buying 2,400 Breast Cancer Research semipostal stamps, $1,320 worth. This will be the seventh consecutive year for the effort, which began in 2003, the year his wife, Mary, died of the disease. Platt’s total for the purchases after this year will amount to $8,529.
Charleston Postmaster, Tim Shaw, James Island Post Office Officer-In-Charge, Stephan Slaughter, and breast cancer survivor, Lucy Spears, Education/Outreach Coordinator for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, will welcome Mr. Platt to the James Island Post Office, 579 Folly Rd. and Central Park, to express their appreciation for his support. In addition to using the stamps for his personal mailing, Platt donates many of the stamps to organizations that fight the disease. A special presentation will be made by Shaw.
The Breast Cancer Research semipostal was issued on July 29, 1998, it was the first semipostal in U.S. history. Today, after 11 years, it is the only U. S. semipostal stamp that continues to be sold, and it continues to raise the most awareness and donations in Postal history. Eleven cents of the 55 cent price goes to fight the disease.
To date, the stamp has raised over $67.4 million for breast cancer research. 950 million of the stamps have been sold. 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.
"It perpetuates the memory of a beautiful person who died too soon at the age of 51," said Platt.
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