Staff Writer

They may save their Christmas cards, but some local women are more interested in the stamps on the envelopes.

Members of the Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 487 in Davenport are saving canceled stamps to send to veterans hospitals in Albany and Binghamton.

Veterans convalescing at the hospitals use the stamps for crafts, such as decoupage, said Auxiliary President Jane Brown of Davenport Center.

"I know they take lampshades and they decorate them with the stamps," she said. "They do crafts to keep them busy, to keep them occupied."

The auxiliary has been saving stamps for the past six months. So far, the women have turned in about 500 stamps and will have another 300 to 400 stamps collected by the beginning of January.

"I went to the town hall in Davenport Center and I have them saving them off of the letters that come into the town hall," she said.

The women are also collecting coupons to be distributed to service members, Brown said. The coupons will be honored, even if expired, at the PX, or post exchange, on U.S. military bases.

"The way the world is right now, the servicemen sure can use them 'cause we got them stationed all over they world," Brown said.

Brown, 64, joined the auxiliary while her son Donald Libby, now a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, was serving in the Persian Gulf. She's served as president for the past 10 months, she said, and found out about the coupon program in literature from Auxiliary VFW national headquarters.

"Having a son in the Navy and another son in the Coast Guard I really got on to it," said Brown, who alone has collected 3,000 coupons so far.

Libby, 37, is on 48-hour notice to go to Iraq, she said. He is stationed in San Diego. Her son Richard Brown, 34, is stationed in Rhode Island with the Coast Guard.

Brown, who works at Vern's Restaurant in Davenport, is also a member of the Davenport Volunteer Fire Department. She has recruited restaurant customers, the fire department's auxiliary, as well as her children in Connecticut, to help collect the items. Brown also has four daughters.

The auxiliary is asking that anyone who wishes to save coupons or canceled stamps to mail the items to Jane Brown, Box 122, Davenport Center, NY 13751, or contact Brown at 278-5953.

"If they don't want to spend the postage," she said, "I'd be happy to pick them up."

If you have some good news you'd like to share, please call Managing Editor Cary Brunswick at 432-1000 or (800) 721-1000; e-mail him at cary@thedailystar.com; fax him at 432-5707; or write to him at P.O. Box 250, Oneonta, NY 13820.