The following overview of the OPS Youth Booth Program at ORAPEX has been thoughtfully provided by David Giles and on behalf of the volunteers who continue to make this program a success.  While all views and opinions expressed as such are those of David, however, the program has been institutionalised within the Ottawa Philatelic Society who proudly sponsor this initiative.

For further information or to make a donation, please contact David Giles  dbsgiles@sympatico.ca

The Youth Booth is a committment to ORAPEX by the OPS, annualy.  The objective is to:
 
1.  Introduce and promote stamp collecting, cover and postcard collecting to youths;
2.  Encourage and assist those young collectors in the pursuit of the hobby;
3.  Provide practical information to parents/guardians to assit their child in the hobby.
 
Our slate of bilingual volunteers provide a "goody bag" for each child (a child is a you, an under 18) who presents themselves at the booth.  The goody bag includes a packet stamps, a philatelic newspaper and/or magazine, a few covers, and a few tips on collecting stamps.  If they need, we provide a stockbook, packets of hinges, a pair tongs, and a magnifyer.  The volunteers offer collecting tips, ideas and assistance to the young collectors.
 
We offer them the opportunity to root through the kiloware and find stamps they need.  This is a big draw as it is hands-on fun!  There is a number of catalogues they may choose from, and a number of covers, etc.

We have a number of off-paper stamps that we present them, when we find out their collecting interests.  For example, if a girl says she collects Denmark, we pull out all our Scandinavian stamps and show them to her.  She is allowed to take what she needs for her collection.

Our volunteer RCMP Sgt. does a quick 10 minute presentation on the history of the RCMP as displayed on stamps.  By answering a few questions correctly, they get a prize courtesy of the RCMP.  Periodically we will say things like, find me a stamp with a bird on it, or a stamp from China, or whatever, and the child that finds one in the kiloware, or where ever gets a prize.  The prizes are usually souvenir sheets, interesting covers, etc.
 
We do not permit adults to root through our stamps and covers, nor do we sell to them, either.  We do sell them catalogues that we have, and the money earned goes towards our Youth Booth.  We do allow adults that accompany the children to the show to assist them in rooting through the kiloware to find stamps they need.
 
Everything at the Youth Booth is donated by members of the OPS, RA Stamp Club, APO, and the general public.  Our largest single donor is our local stamp dealer, Ian Kimmerly Stamps of Ottawa.  We also receive monetary donations through our club auctions. 
 
The money we have in the Youth Booth is used to purchase stockbooks, tongs, hinges and magnifiers for the children. 

Number of Visits to the "YOUTH INITIATIVE PROGRAM" Page