Postal customer to buy $1,300 in Breast Cancer Research stamps to heighten awareness

Eugene Platt of James Island buys over $1000 worth for the 6^th straight year

At 11 a.m. on Wednesday, October 1, Eugene Platt of James Island, SC will make his sixth annual effort to help kick off Breast Cancer Awareness Month with a large purchase of Breast Cancer Research stamps.  This year, Platt will buy 2,380 of the stamps, at a cost of $1,309.  He began his purchases in 2003, the year his wife, Mary, died of the disease.  

Charleston Postmaster, Tim Shaw and James Island Station Manager, Mary Griner will be on hand to welcome Mr. Platt to the James Island Post Office, 579 Folly Rd. and Central Park Rd.  Sales and Service Associate, Dian Dean will handle the transaction at the window. 

The Breast Cancer Research semipostal was issued on July 29, 1998, it was the first semipostal in U.S. history.  By definition, the price of a semipostal stamp includes First Class postage and a donation.  The Breast Cancer Research stamp sells for 55 cents, with 13 cents included for the cause.

To date, the stamp has raised over $62.8 million for breast cancer research; 826.9 million 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.