Postcrossing Blog

December is just around the corner, and if you’ve been around for the past few years, you probably know what that means… but just in case you don’t: dear postcrossers, it’s our honor to announce together with Deutsche Post the 6th edition of the Cards for Literacy campaign! 🎉

Without further ado:

If you’re in Germany, all you have to do is send postcards like always, as many as you can! If your December postcards are registered before the end of February 2019, you will be contributing to this cause and entering a draw to win some cool postal prizes.

And although only postcards sent from Germany count, don’t forget that there’s always a receiver in every postcard exchange — so each time a card from Germany is registered, the recipient will be indirectly contributing to this donation too.

Oh! Did we mention there are prizes? 😍 Yup, we have a bounty of custom-made stamps and cool messenger bags to give away to seven randomly selected postcrossers (residents in Germany only). So by sending postcards in December, you’re helping a good cause, and could win one of these:

• One voucher for the Marke Individuell Online Shop worth €100.
• Three vouchers for the Marke Individuell Online Shop worth €40 each.
• Three post-themed messenger bags from Deutsche Post.

Brilliant! As usual, Paulo will run his random number generator next March and we’ll reveal the total count of postcards sent (and money raised to Stiftung Lesen) here in the blog. Last year, a grand total of €8,685.80 was raised for this good cause!

Stiftung Lesen is a German non-profit organization, working to increase literacy in the population, especially among children and adolescents. Their activities include reading clubs, media literacy projects and initiatives to promote the learning of German language by refugee families in the country.

So… what are you waiting for? If you’re in Germany, get your postcards and stamps ready for December! The more cards you send, the more you’ll be helping this good cause!

P.S. – As always, we respect your personal information and will not share it with any company without your explicit permission. The full details of this campaign can be read here (German only).

March is fiiiiiinally here, and we can reveal at last how many postcards were sent for a good cause last December! Ready to find out? Here it goes…

Postcrossers in Germany sent a total of 86,858 postcards during December, raising €8,685.80 for Stiftung Lesen! YAY!

Congratulations to all postcrossers for making this happen! We’re forever in awe of the thousands of dedicated German senders, who save their postcard slots throughout November just to be able to send more postcards are soon as the clock strikes 12 on December 1st — and they keep at it the whole month!

And of course, all the prompt recipients are important too! Every postcard has a sender and a receiver, and they’re both part of each exchange — so congratulations to all the recipients as well.

And last but not least, a big thank you to Deutsche Post for always standing by their commitment to improving literacy in Germany, year after year. Hurray!

Paulo is going to run his magic script to choose the prize winners, and if you’re one of them, we’ll get in touch in the next few days. Keep an eye on your email to find out if you were one of them! 😊

December is juuuuust around the corner, and we know that many of our German members have been waiting for the announcement of our yearly collaboration with Deutsche Post. So it’s my pleasure to let you all know that our “Postcards for a good cause” campaign will also take place this year! Hurray! The rules haven’t changed, but for those who are new to Postcrossing or need a little refresher, here they are:

If you’re in Germany, all you have to do is send postcards, as many as you can! If your December postcards are registered before the end of February 2018, you will be contributing to this cause.

And although only postcards sent from Germany count, there’s always a receiver in every postcard exchange — so each time a card from Germany is registered, the recipient will be indirectly contributing to this donation too!

To keep things interesting, there’s also cool prizes for some randomly selected participants (residents in Germany only):

• Two €50 vouchers for www.allyouneed.com.
• Three €40 vouchers for Marke Individuell.
• Three post-themed messenger bags from Deutsche Post.

Pretty cool, right? All you need to do is send a postcard, and you’ll be automatically helping and entering in this lucky draw. As usual, the winners will be picked by Paulo's nifty random number generator in March 2018, at which point we will also announce here on the blog the total amount raised by German postcrossers to Stiftung Lesen. Last year, a grand total of €8,372.10 was raised for this good cause! 😊

Stiftung Lesen is a German non-profit organization, working to boost literacy in the population, especially among children, adolescents and newly arrived refugee families. Literacy and increasingly media literacy as well, are essencial requirements for success in life both on its professional and civic aspects. The funds raised in this campaign help the organisation run its many initiatives, such as reading clubs, libraries or research projects.

So… what are you waiting for? If you’re in Germany, get your postcards and stamps ready! The more cards you send in December, the more you’ll contribute — and the more chances you’ll have of winning a voucher, stamps or one of those neat messenger bags! 📯

P.S. – As always, we respect your personal information and will not share it with any company without your explicit permission. The full details of this campaign can be read here (German only).

If you’re anything like me, you cannot bear the thought of throwing stamps away — not even used ones. Luckily, there are many organizations out there that collect them to finance good causes or bring awareness to important issues. Today we’re choosing to highlight one of them that was brought to our attention by Charlotte (aka maxcat1) from the USA.

The students at Foxborough Regional Charter School in Massachusetts have a longterm project called the “Holocaust Stamp Project”, through which they are attempting to collect 11 million cancelled postage stamps. You can probably guess why such a big number, but we’ll let them explain in their own words:

Each stamp that is collected symbolizes one wasted life, “thrown away” as having no value, much the same way as an envelope bearing a cancelled stamp postage stamp is tossed in the trash.

Begun in 2009, the Holocaust Stamps Project is a component of community service learning (CSL), at Foxborough Regional Charter School. It is a unique educational initiative that provides opportunities for students to gain a deeper understanding of how important it is to demonstrate acceptance, tolerance, and respect for diversity in their own daily lives.

The goal is to collect 11,000,000 postage stamps as a way to symbolically honor every victim of the Holocaust. Students and community volunteers trim and count the thousands of stamps that arrive daily from across the country and the world. The wide range of themes depicted – people, world history, places, flora and fauna, inventions, ideas, and values – leads to discussions about what makes our diverse world so special.

Eleven million is an unfathomable number.

According to the last update from May 2nd 2017, over 9 million stamps have already been collected, so they’re well on their way to reaching the goal they’ve set.

Over the years, classes have been using the stamps to craft meticulous collages showcasing certain aspects of the holocaust. The resulting pieces of art are a thoughtful reflection of the lessons learned from this dark period of humanity’s history, from the viewpoint of the students.

March is here at last! Spring is just around the corner in the northern hemisphere and we’re in a good mood — not least because we have just finished counting how many postcards were sent from Germany last December and we can’t wait to share the results of the Postcards for a good cause campaign with you!

Ready? Here it goes:

Postcrossers in Germany sent a total of 83,721 postcards during December, therefore raising €8,372.10 for Stiftung Lesen! Well done, everyone!

Congratulations to all postcrossers — both German senders and receivers across the world! And a huge thank you to Deutsche Post, for renewing their commitment to this cause, year after year. We look forward to seeing this money being put to work in numerous programs that aim to improve reading skills across all ages.

As usual, we’ll get in touch with all the winners of the prizes in the coming days. Keep an eye on your email to find out if you won something! 😊