Booklet Designed To Help Stamp Out Abuse

Just as mail once brought rays of hope to prisoners of war, postage stamps are being used to bring messages of help and caring to victims of domestic violence.

The situations are analogous, said Bessie M. Love of Houston, Texas, a survivor of 14 years of domestic abuse, because “women in abusive relationships are like prisoners of war.”

She joined Vice President Al Gore and Postmaster General Marvin Runyon in announcing Wednesday that booklets of postage stamps will begin carrying an anti-violence message and national telephone hotline number for victims to seek help.

More than 200 million booklets will be distributed nationwide, Runyon said. Identical messages and phone numbers are on booklets containing 32-cent Statue of Liberty and 32-cent flag-over-porch stamps.

“This will help put people in need a phone call away from the help that they deserve,” Gore said.

The key to escape is in the knowledge that there is a place to go and people to provide help, he said, and “that’s what this hotline is all about.”

Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said he and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., approached Runyon about the possibility of a postage stamp with the hot line number.

Instead, Runyon suggested putting it on booklets, which can be put in circulation more quickly and will remain in the home, instead of being stuck on envelopes to be sent off with checks to pay the bills.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline was launched in February, 1996, and has received 107,000 calls. The number is 1-800-799-7233, or the TDD number for the deaf 1-800-787-3224.