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Christian charity BibleLands is appealing for donations
of used stamps to help make 2006 a record-breaking fundraising
year for its Stamp Fellowship – which celebrates its Diamond
Anniversary on 31 March.
Every year, hard-working volunteers from all over the country
sort thousands of stamps and postcards sent in to BibleLands’
headquarters, and then sell them to collectors – raising vital
funds to support visually impaired children at the Helen
Keller Centre, near Jerusalem. No one realised just how long
the Stamp Fellowship had been in existence until staff looking
through the archives stumbled across the story of its
beginning, back in 1946.
“BibleLands’ 60 years of stamps
started with a group of soldiers stationed in Jerusalem during
the Second World War,” explains Head of Fundraising Tricia
Pruden. “They discovered a home for blind children and were
determined to do something to help. After the war, one of the
soldiers, Eric Peacock, started selling stamps to raise funds.
He made £20 in the first year, and the Stamp Fellowship has
gone from strength to strength ever since.”
Now, stamps and postcards raise around £4000 each year for the
Helen Keller Centre. Based between Jerusalem and Ramallah in
Israel & the Occupied Territories, the Centre operates in
challenging conditions – an Israeli checkpoint is situated
right outside its doors – but works to help visually impaired
Christian, Muslim and Jewish children gain an education and
look forward to an independent future.
“We’d love to receive donations of
postcards and stamps – especially foreign ones, British
picture stamps and collections – so that we can raise even
more money for the blind children,” continues Tricia. “People
can send them to BibleLands at PO Box 50, High Wycombe,
Bucks HP15 7QU.”
Media enquiries:
Caroline Rance
BibleLands
01494 897933
caroline.rance@biblelands.org.uk
NOTES TO EDITORS:
BibleLands
Founded by the Rev Cuthbert Young in 1854 to support the work
of American missionaries serving the Armenian population at
the height of the Crimean War, BibleLands is a non-denominational Christian charity
that works in partnership with some 50 local Christian-led
projects in the lands of the Bible, in the fields of
Education; Social Care; Special Needs; Medical Care;
Vocational and Adult Training; Support and Care of Refugees.
The Helen Keller Centre
One of more than 50 Project Partners supported by BibleLands,
the Helen Keller Centre originated as the Mary Lovell Home for
Blind Girls, established in the late 19th century. Today’s
Centre is situated on the road between Jerusalem and Ramallah,
where travel restrictions and political uncertainty make life
difficult for its 80 visually impaired children and their
teachers. The Centre focuses on primary education but also
continues to support older children as they integrate into
mainstream secondary schools. The children at the Centre have
lessons in Arabic braille, general school subjects, mobility,
daily living skills and IT. Like all of BibleLands’
Project Partners, the Helen Keller Centre provides its
services on the basis of need, regardless of the recipients’
race or religion.
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