Washington, D.C., September 17, 1999—The new Peace Corps stamp will go on sale today, as part of the U.S. Postal Service\'s "Celebrate the Century" series for the 1960s.
The Postal Service will hold a first day of issue ceremony in Green Bay, Wisc., where Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr will unveil the new Green Bay Packers stamp.
The Peace Corps stamp and the Packers stamp are among 15 new postage stamps that are being issued to commemorate the 1960s. Others from the 1960s include stamps commemorating man\'s walk on the moon, the peace symbol, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.\'s "I Have a Dream" speech, the Beatles, and the Vietnam War.
The 33-cent stamps are available at local post offices across the country beginning today. They will not be sold individually, but rather in sheets with all 15 stamps from the 1960s series. The sheets cost $4.95 each.
The Peace Corps stamp is a re-creation of a Norman Rockwell painting from his series on the Peace Corps completed during the 1960s. The painting is of a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia, one of the countries Rockwell visited.
The Peace Corps stamp was unveiled in June at a concert and picnic at Georgetown University in Washington to celebrate the \'next generation\' of Peace Corps volunteers to serve overseas in the new millennium. Nearly 1,000 people attended, including nearly 200 volunteers who were about to depart for five countries—China, El Salvador, Ghana, Niger, and Romania.
More than 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers are now working in 77 countries to bring clean water to communities, teach children, protect the environment, help start new small businesses and prevent the spread of AIDS. For more information, visit the Postal Service Web site at www.usps.com.