The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

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  • Sofia Biller looks at a collection of stamps that was donated to the United Way of Enid and Northwest Oklahoma. Leonardo's Education Coordinator Joyce Fales used the stamps Friday afternoon for a class on stamp collecting. (Staff Photo by SHAWN YORKS)

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January 22, 2010

Inspiring a hobby

Texas man donates collection of stamps to United Way of Enid and NW Oklahoma

By Joe Malan, Staff Writer Enid News and Eagle

ENID — Upon opening the envelope, the United Way executive director found 23 old stamps wrapped in small wax packets and a letter.

The letter read: “Please give the stamps to a boy or girl, so they can learn about collecting stamps. Each stamp is from a different country. They are interesting and educational. Each one tells a story about a people, history, science, art, geography, etc. Please tell me if you want more. (They’re free.)”

Byrne, after reading the letter and looking at the stamps, went through United Way’s database to see if the man was a regular donor. He didn’t see his name.

He asked some people around town, too, but they didn’t know who he was either.

So Byrne was left in awe of the seemingly random donation to United Way.

“It’s an amazing donation on someone’s part,” Byrne said. “He’s given a child, maybe these stamps he’s collected his entire life to inspire them to become involved in this hobby.”

Byrne said he didn’t want to reveal the man’s name because there wasn’t a phone number he could contact him by.

On Friday, Byrne loaned the stamps to Leonardo’s Dis-covery Warehouse’s home-school class so they could use them for their class on stamps.

Joyce Fales, education coordinator at Leonardo’s, said she tried doing some research on each individual stamp before the class.

“I could not tell the age of them,” she said. “I’d guess they were pretty old.”

All 23 stamps were either square or rectangular and had origins from all over the world. Some countries represented by the stamps in the mini-collection were Finland, Poland, Australia, Germany, Czechos-lovakia and the United States. A lot of the stamps also had areas where post offices had marked them with ink.

Ultimately, Byrne said, the stamps will be given to a child who has an interest in stamp collecting.

Byrne said he’s got one child specifically in mind, but he’s still considering who to give them to.

He’s just delighted someone decided to donate the stamps to United Way.

“Maybe it’ll spur others to share their interests,” he said.

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