Stamps for Kids

Stamps for Kids is in its sixth year at Taste of Chicago in Chicago's lakefront Grant Park summer food festival. From its inception as an experimental media histories intervention to the largest one-day stamp giveaway known, Stamps for Kids has given away over 2 million postage stamps to Chicago children to promote stamp collecting among youth. In 2008 the Ernest J. Kehr Award honored Stamps for Kids founder Andrew Oleksiuk for enduring contributions to youth philately. In 2009, Stamps for Kids Mobile Unit (a collapsable colorful bicycle trailer) was unveiled at the College of Architecture and Art at the University of Illinois at Chicago and COMPEX. All stamps are donated as an ongoing project by local and national stamp collecting clubs, individual donors and  stamp dealers. Each year the Taste of Chicago booth is staffed by volunteers and friends. Children and parents assemble in the Family Village area of Taste of Chicago and are amazed at the variety of educational opportunities for family fun with stamps. Kids put stamps selected from bins into baggies designated for each child. This fun free activity excites and delights all participants and is very popular with both children and parents. Stamps for Kids is sponsored by Chicago Philatelic Society which is the oldest continuously operating stamp club in the United States.