NEW PROGRAM SUPPORTS YOUTH PHILATELY
The British North America Philatelic Society has announced the third year of its program of financial grants, up to $350, for activities encouraging children and young adults ( to 18 years old) to pursue a hobby in philately. This reflects the organization’s commitment to youth philately. Free postage stamps are also available.
If your philatelic group or school is planning a new or expanded activity supporting stamp-collecting by youth in 2008, you may submit a request for funding. Such activities could be at a stamp show, in a classroom, or at a stamp club. Examples from 2007 include funding to help stamp activity tables at several stamp shows, a first day cover design contest, and a number of new school stamp clubs.To qualify you must submit an application. BNAPS will need to know your plans and budget. If your activity is show-related they’ll want the activity to be noted in the show’s program with a copy sent to them. If funding is granted the organization will also want a summary of what was accomplished.
The decision whether to fund a proposal will rest solely with the Youth Activity Committee of BNAPS, and will be final. Once a proposal is accepted a check will be issued to the sponsoring party included in the proposal.
All proposals must be submitted by May 1st, 2008. The budget for this program is limited so
the sooner you apply the better. Applications
are available on this website in either
HTML or
Adobe
PDF format or from:
BNAPS
c/o Bob Dyer
1708 Granada
Court
Petaluma, CA 94954
U.S.A.
Bob Dyer
nrdyer@comcast.net
27 May 2008
BNAPS GRANT HELPS GET YOUNG STAMP COLLECTORS TO PHILATELIC SHOW
A BNAPS Youth Activity grant helped fund bus travel for the Fitch Middle School Stamp Club to the recent 2008 Philatelic Show in Boxborough, Massachusetts. The school is located in Groton, Connecticut and thirty-one students took a special bus to the American Philatelic Show on May 9th. The grant was $200.
Robert F. Welt led the youth group to the show, and is a Social Studies teacher at the school and longtime supporter of youth philately. He writes for the Global Stamp News and is a winner of American Philatelic Society’s E.A. Kehr Award for his work with the youth.
Welt explains that the annual trip to Boxborough is “the culminating activity of the year for the kids in the stamp club. I like to expose them to a stamp show and allow some of them to exhibit in the youth area. The show should be a positive experience for the youngsters…I seriously doubt that all 30 will remain lifelong stamp collectors, but I hope some will carry on or come back to the hobby later in life.”
This club members put in a dozen exhibits, and both girls and boys won prizes, including awards for exhibits on scouting, and wild animals.
The club has more girl members than boys and Welt feels that is because the 7th grade girls are generally more socially mature than boys of that age. He adds that many of the girls are also quite active in athletics.
Welt says the trip was very successful, the kids had a great time, and light traffic allowed them to get back in time for the Little League games!
BNAPS’ Youth Activity Program provides cash grants (and also free stamps) to school or junior stamp clubs and to youth activity shows at stamp shows. 37 cash grants have been issued in the past two years.
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Children exiting bus at show |
Fitch club member admiring exhibit by one of her friends |
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Boys looking at stamp items for sale at the show |
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The girls also provided business for the stamp dealers |
The Fitch Middle School Stamp Club |
27 April 2008
YOUTH PHILATELIC PASSPORT
In 2007, BNAPS’ Youth Activity Program provided $325 in funding to Carol Edholm, Executive Director of Youth Stamp Collectors. The funds were to pay for the printing of a “philatelic passport” she designed. Carol was using these at the San Francisco WESTPEX APS show which I attended on April 27th. WESTPEX provides not only two tables for youth activities but also an adjacent room, where Carol was working with the kids. A BNAPS sign reflected our support.
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The photos are of the front of the 4” X 7” booklet, and of two of the inside pages. The booklet has 39 pages for countries from Argentina to Zambia. Carol has a large pile of stamps dedicated to this project, “seeded’ with at least 50 stamps from each targeted country. Children search for stamps for each country and hinge them to the appropriate pages. Any child completing a booklet gets a prize. Since WESTPEX was fortunate to have first day ceremonies for a set of tropical fruit stamps, each qualifying child got a copy of one of these stamps with a first day cancel on the bottom half of the United States page.
The booklets were printed and stapled at Office Depot. This looks like an idea that other youth programs could adopt, and was a good use for BNAPS’ funding. Carol may be reached at youth.stamps@verizon.net for other details.
Norris (Bob) Dyer, BNAPS Youth Coordinator
16 November 2007
BNAPS Supports Youth at VICPEX 2007
VICPEC 2007 was held in Victoria, British Columbia, on October 13th and 14th. A grant from BNAPS's Youth Program helped to pay for awards and gifts to youths at the stamp show. Camila Strasdas (wearing the cast) was the youth winner and received first choice at the "scramble table" which is provided for the kids at the completion of the awards presentation. Camila got to select eight items while 25 other kids each got to select four. Don Shorting coordinated the show's youth program.
19 October 2007
ESTABLISHING SCHOOL STAMP CLUBS
This is an email sent to me by Robert Martin. It demonstrates that children still appreciate stamps – even in 2007. The key is proper mentoring by a dedicated adult. The photos show children searching through a pile of stamps in a school library, and Robert Martin demonstrating how a Raytech device checks for tagging. – Bob Dyer, BNAPS Youth Activity Program.
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The stamp clubs meet every week, except for when there is no school or when the room is not available because it is being used for some other purpose. I also have to cancel a few times each year because of personal conflicts. So we have about 23 - 24 meetings each year. In addition, I started a stamp club at Chamberlain School in Hollister, California. The school is for severely emotionally handicapped children, and is state-funded. The entire census of that school is nine students. I have signed up eight to the stamp club, and we had our first meeting on Friday October 5th. I hope to be able to have that stamp club meet many more times, but it is not confirmed yet. I also plan a special stamp club for five students in a special education program (for academically low achievers).
The main problem I am experiencing is that there is only one of me. It would be great to have a few more volunteers. I know I can start up dozens of stamp clubs in the schools near me, but I do not have the time to do all this volunteer work by myself. (At age 58 I still am working, and do not plan to retire for quite some time - probably at least 10 years from now.) The actual amount of time is about 1 hour and 45 minutes a week per club, plus travel. We normally meet during the lunch time. I have had an after-school club, but that takes a little more effort to obtain the required parental permission for an after school program.
I also am in the process of writing a small book about how to establish and run a youth stamp club.
I would be happy to travel within the United States to set up and start a youth stamp club, with the proviso that there are at least two adult volunteers who will commit to continuing it. I would not charge anything for travel except the cost of my lodging for one night and auto rental for one day - total about $80 - $120 depending on costs. (I can travel by air for free, and I volunteer my time.) The cost of initial supplies is approximately $150.00 per stamp club per year. This provides one album per child for up to 125 students, 10,000 hinges, 30 pairs of tongs and 2000-3000 stamps. The most likely day that I can arrive is on a Thursday, with Friday being the day I will set up the stamp club. I would need to know the names, phone numbers, and emails of the adult volunteers, as well as the phone number and name of the school principal. I would contact them about 30 days in advance. In other words, I would set up and get running a youth stamp club in your community in one month. Naturally, during the Christmas break there will be a slightly longer delay.
Depending on your state law and local school district requirements, it may be necessary for the volunteers to be fingerprinted. The school district may (or may not) do this for free. I have been already fingerprinted here in San Jose, CA. Personally, I like the idea of making certain that any volunteer has been thoroughly "checked out." I also like to have a school employee present, if at all possible. Often the librarian is present, because we hold the stamp club meetings in the library.
I welcome visitors to come to the stamp clubs I run. Just feel free to drop in at the school office and sign in as a visitor any Tuesday or Wednesday. Phone first because occasionally I have to change the meeting dates for reasons given above. (People who show up usually are "put to work" helping newer club members hinge stamps, or help with soaking stamps when we do that.)
Thank you very much for your grant. BNAPS is the only organization that I am aware of that is doing this!
Robert Wayne Martin, Life Member APS # 11452
PO Box 3503
Saratoga, CA
95070-1503
Phone 408-848-8203 cell 408-893-1040
Email
taxman362@aol.com
23 June 2007
YOUTH BOOTH AT ORAPEX 2007
Dick Logan of the Ottawa Philatelic Society has reported on the Youth Booth at the Ottawa national show.
“Just a few words to let you know that ORAPEX 2007 was a great success and the Ottawa Philatelic Society Youth Booth was probably the most popular table with over 300 hits. There were four, sometimes five volunteers servicing all levels of youth collecting during the two days.The quality of the items given away to each young person was at a very high level and collecting interests were spread over the: ‘I want to start collecting stamps;’ ‘I want particular stamps;’ and ‘I would like to have someone help me with my collection.’
The stock books were a big hit and each one contained a sticker saying that they had been donated by BNAPS. The sign provided was displayed during the two days and …the Program made reference to BNAPS and their contribution to the Youth Booth. I have also included a few photos [see photo of really young collector.]
Once again, thank you very much for your kind assistance with the BNAPS grant. Please pass on our appreciation to all members of BNAPS.”
5 April 2007
FDC CONTEST IN GREATER VICTORIA SCHOOLS
Last year the new BNAPS Youth Activity Program issued 15 cash grants in support of youth philately. One of these grants was to Don Shorting to help pay expenses for a FDC contest in Greater Victoria schools. Don reports the contest, which started in the fall term, was a success. He had 92 entries from three elementary schools and one middle school. Each participant received a ribbon and a $1 philatelic item. The best three entrants from each school also got $10 philatelic items. This is an example of how our organization is helping generate interest in stamp collecting among our youth.
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Entrants from the FDC Contest |
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14 March 2007
WAYNE STAMP SOCIETY DONATES TO BNAPS YOUTH PROGRAM
5 March 2007
BNAPS SUPPORTS SCHOOL KIDS
| Students from St. Bonaventures School, St. John's, Newfoundland recently admiring stamp supplies provided by a 2006 BNAPS youth grant to Cupids Historical Society and Linda Kane, its Curator. |
BNAPS SUPPORTS YOUTH ACTIVITY TABLES AT RECENT STAMP SHOWS
Grants from BNAPS’ 2006 Youth Activity Program provided needed supplies for youth activity tables at NOVAPEX 2006, held in Darmouth, Nova Scotia, September 15-17, and at the ROYAL/ROYALE 2006 in Calgary, September 29 – October first. Elizabeth Sodero (FRPSC) provided a report on NOVAPEX and Ron Tabbert of the Calgary Philatelic Society, reported on the ROYALE. Extracts from their reports follow.NOVAPEX YOUTH ACTIVITY TABLE – Elizabeth Sodero
“Thanks to the grant from BNAPS we were able to make up a dozen binders, containing a good stock book, tongs, hinges, perf gauge, stamp mix, magnifying glass, paper stock and a pencil, with a certificate expressing thanks to BNAPS, with website address, etc.Though it was a three-day show, Saturday was the day children came. Friday, of course, was a school day and Sunday was quiet – we also had to contend with a beautiful, warm, sunny weekend and many other community fairs and festivals. We had about 25 children. The binder kits were used for a ‘clinic’ on Saturday morning. The children who came ranged in age from 5-9. They worked hard and well and were most enthusiastic. It was fun. A local newspaper interviewed two of the participants who expressed their delight in the whole collecting process, while their mother, a non-collector, gave the hobby a glowing endorsement emphasizing the skills attached – research and organization, and an understanding of history. The two junior exhibitors, Alex Faulkner (13) – ‘Sports on Stamps’ and Liam Parks (8) – ‘Birds’, were awarded silver medals and helped at the table…
Thanks once again to you and BNAPS for the help. It is appreciated, and has certainly helped to inspire at least a dozen young collectors.”
ROYAL/ROYALE YOUTH ACTIVITY PROGRAM – Ron Tabbert
"Attendance
The youth section (aka Junior room) of the Royal saw a good flow of visitors. They were provided with a number of avenues of introduction to stamp collecting or expanding their present collection. Sixty one give-away bags were distributed. (I personally counted 55 young people under the age of 16, and 22 adults with them.) Fifty bags were provided before the show. Ten were set aside for the scouts, eighteen for the grade five/ six class from Prince of Peace Lutheran School. Unfortunately the scouts did not show, but their material was used to make up extra bags for the remainder of the weekend.…Activities
As the children and youth entered the room, they were invited to register for the door prizes. They then drew from a bag with stamps from 128 different countries and were helped to mount it on a world map. They were then directed to explore the room and look for stamps in the boxes provided. Another table included designs of the show cancels to colour, word games related to Stamp Month, and also a “design your own stamp” or snowboard page. These seemed more popular with smaller children and their parents as older siblings searched for stamps.Five main tray boxes were set out on tables with a distinct selection of stamps. Canada off-paper and on-paper, foreign off paper and on-paper, topicals, and a mixed US box. In addition, a selection of unique donations were set aside and given out at various times as door prizes and “contest” awards. Contests included “who can throw a stamp the farthest?”, the first one to find a stamp showing a bellybutton, a place in Africa, a country name with three a’s, etc.
Fortunately the room also provided space for a winning youth exhibit of four frames, and three tables for teaching and sorting materials. These were very helpful with the class of 18 school kids on Friday, and available the rest of the weekend for youngsters sorting stamps, laying out their treasures, and a variety of “workshops” and some one-on-one instruction. Among the things “revealed” were hidden dates and images, macro-printing, phosphorescence, perforations, holograms and the various printing gimmicks being issued. A dozen of the donated catalogs were distributed when their use was explained, enlightening the parents as much as the children.Donors
The Royal Youth section was particularly successful because of the grant from BNAPS. Most of the supplies were covered with these funds…
Budget
Our budget was primarily for supplies. They included:-
50 Vario stockpages,
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100 quadrille pages,
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10 packages hinges,
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50 tongs,
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12 metal perf gauges,
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6 watermark trays,
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50 magnifying glasses, and
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Harris Canada album
Remaining costs were donated by various individuals or entities…”
Bob Dyer, BNAPS Youth Coordinator
25 April 2006
Documents for Download
Junior Stamp Club Goals
Junior Stamp Club Program
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May 26, 2008 |