![\"Alzheimer\u2019s](\"http:\/\/about.usps.com\/news\/national-releases\/2017\/images\/pr17_067.jpg\")
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WASHINGTON<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 11\/02\/17 – The U.S. Postal Service previewed the image of the Alzheimer\u2019s Semipostal fundraising stamp today<\/p>\n It also announced the stamp will be dedicated at 10 a.m., Thursday, Nov. 30 at\u00a0Johns Hopkins Asthma & Allergy Center Atrium<\/em><\/a>, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, 5501 Hopkins Bayview Circle, Baltimore, MD 21224.<\/p>\n Available nationwide Nov. 30, the Alzheimer\u2019s Semipostal stamp will be sold for 60 cents. The price includes the first-class single-piece postage rate in effect at the time of purchase plus an amount to fund Alzheimer\u2019s research. By law, revenue from sales of the Alzheimer\u2019s Semipostal stamp \u2014 minus the postage paid and the reimbursement of reasonable costs incurred by the Postal Service \u2014 will be distributed to the National Institutes of Health, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n The event is free and open to the public. RSVP is required to attend the ceremony. Please RSVP at\u00a0usps.com\/alzheimers<\/em><\/a>. Followers of the U.S. Postal Service\u2019s Facebook page can view the first-day-of-issue ceremony live at\u00a0facebook.com\/USPS<\/em><\/a>. Customers may pre-order the stamps at\u00a0usps.com\/shop<\/em><\/a>\u00a0in early November for delivery shortly after the Nov. 30 issuance. Please share the news on social media using the hashtag\u00a0#AlzheimersStamp.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer\u00a0Megan J. Brennan<\/em><\/a>\u00a0will dedicate the stamp. In attendance will be Kathy Siggins of Mount Airy, MD, who followed the discretionary semipostal program criteria for submitting the stamp suggestion. Siggins\u2019 husband succumbed to the disease in 1999.<\/p>\n The artwork is an illustration that first appeared on the 2008 42-cent\u00a0Alzheimer’s Awareness stamp<\/em><\/a>. It shows an older woman in profile with a caring hand on her shoulder with the suggestion of sunlight behind her and clouds in front of and below her. On the 2008 stamp, she was facing left; the artwork for this stamp shows her facing right to help differentiate between the two stamps. Stamp artist\u00a0Matt Mahurin<\/em><\/a>\u00a0of Topanga Canyon, CA, worked under the direction of art director\u00a0Ethel Kessler<\/em><\/a>\u00a0of Bethesda, MD.<\/p>\n The Semipostal Authorization Act, Pub. L. 106\u2013253, grants the U.S. Postal Service discretionary authority to issue and sell semipostal fundraising stamps to advance such causes as it considers to be \u2018\u2018in the national public interest and appropriate.\u2019\u2019 Under the program, the Postal Service intends to issue five semipostal fundraising stamps over a 10-year period, with each stamp to be sold for no more than two years. The Alzheimer\u2019s Semipostal stamp is the first and will be followed by a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) semipostal stamp to be issued in 2019. The next three discretionary semipostal stamps have not yet been determined.<\/p>\n Under the Act, the Postal Service will consider proposals for future semipostals until May 20, 2023. The Federal Register notice outlining this program can be found at the following url:\u00a0\u00a0https:\/\/www.gpo.gov\/fdsys\/pkg\/FR-2016-04-20\/pdf\/2016-09081.pdf<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Proposals will only be considered if they meet all submission requirements and selection criteria. They may be submitted by mail to the following address:<\/p>\n Office of Stamp Services Suggestions may also be submitted in a single Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) file sent by email to\u00a0semipostal@usps.gov<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>Indicate in the Subject Line:\u00a0Semipostal<\/em>\u00a0Discretionary Program.<\/em><\/p>\n There are currently two semipostal stamps available for sale that has been mandated by Congress. These are the Breast Cancer Research Semipostal which has raised more than $86.1 million and the Save Vanishing Species Semipostal which has raised more than $4.3 million as of September 2017. Visit this\u00a0link<\/em><\/a>\u00a0for additional information.<\/p>\n
\nAttn: Semipostal Discretionary Program
\n475 L\u2019Enfant Plaza SW., Room 3300
\nWashington, DC 20260\u20133501<\/p>\n