If you haven’t sent in your dues for 2010 and ballot for the election of Officers and Board members, please do so before you forget.  You can take a $3.00 discount off the $25.00 annual dues only if you pay by December 31st.  Also, you can now pay your dues online via PayPal.  Go to our website www.usstamps.org and click on “Renew” and follow the instructions.

The Society has a Hardship Fund for those who are unable to pay their annual dues because of a job lay-off or other hardships.  If you find yourself in one of these situations, let me know and I will see about arranging for your dues to be paid for 2010.  We don’t want to lose any members because of unfortunate circumstances beyond their control.

If you want a copy of the 2010 bound volume of The United States Specialist, pay for it now along with your dues.  It will be mailed to you in the Spring of 2011.  Lastly, don’t forget to send your free classified word ads directly to Leonard Piszkiewicz, the Editor of The Specialist.

—Larry Ballantyne
Executive Secretary

This year more members than ever are making contributions to the USSS. All contributions beyond the regular annual dues of $25 qualify under current IRS guidelines as a tax deductible charitable contribution.  We acknowledge all contributions of $5 or more with a written receipt.

It has come to our attention that your contribution may be eligible for a matching grant from your employer.  Many companies have matching programs for contributions made by employees to eligible, recognized charitable organizations.  If you have recently made a contribution to the USSS and your company has such a program, please consider applying for a matching grant.

— David S. Sugar
Treasurer

The Fall Mega Show was held at the New Yorker Hotel, located one block north of Madison Square Garden.  The floor was occupied by only 56 dealer booths, eight societies, and four postal administrations.  Unfortunately, there were no exhibits at the show, but the organizing committee is working hard to rectify this for future shows.

Holiday stamps cancelled on the First Day of Issue, October 8, 2009.

As is the tradition, the U.S. Postal Service held First Day ceremonies for its holiday series of stamps.  On Thursday, the four Winter Holiday stamps were released in both booklet and ATM formats.  The following day, the Hanukkah Menorah and Kwanzaa stamps were released in separate ceremonies.

The United States Stamp Society booth was staffed throughout the four days of the show and was one of the busier places along Society Row.  As you can see from the list below, quite a few members stopped by to say hello and purchase literature.  We also signed up five new members and brought one lost sheep back into the fold.

A special thanks goes out to Bob Rufe and Jeff Shapiro for helping man the booth at different times.  As always, we are deeply grateful to Tom Jacks of Mountainside Stamps for hauling all of our booth supplies to and from the show.

As mentioned earlier, our booth was a popular place for members to get together and exchange information.  Although most of those who stopped by were from the immediate area, we were pleased to meet members from as far away as South Carolina, Ohio, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Illinois.  Those visiting the booth included: