US to release postage stamp on Mother Teresa

US- MOTHERTERESA

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Aug 31 (PTI) The United States Postal
Service has announced that it will release a postage stamp
honouring Mother Teresa on September 5.
"The US Postal Service will pay tribute to Mother
Teresa, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her
humanitarian work," the USPS said in a statement.
"Noted for her compassion toward the poor and
suffering, Mother Teresa, a diminutive Roman Catholic nun and
honorary US citizen, served the sick and destitute of India
and the world for nearly 50 years," it said.
The postage stamp would be unveiled at a function in
Washington on September 5.
The stamp features a portrait of Mother Teresa painted
by award-winning artist Thomas Blackshear II of Colorado
Springs in Colorado.
Every year, the US Postal Service releases a series of
commemorative stamps, honouring people, places and
institutions.
These stamps remain on sale for a limited period and
are widely collected.
The Albanian Catholic nun, who devoted her life to the
downtrodden, was honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
"Her humility and compassion, as well as her respect
for the innate worth and dignity of humankind, inspired people
of all ages and backgrounds to work on behalf of the world’s
poorest populations," USPS had said in a statement in December
last year.
The US Postal Service said when Mother Teresa accepted
the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize—one of her numerous honours and
distinctions—she did so "in the name of the poor, the hungry,
the sick and the lonely," and convinced the organisers to
donate to the needy the money normally used to fund the awards
banquet.
Well respected worldwide, she successfully urged many
of the world's business and political leaders to give their
time and resources to help those in need.
President Ronald Reagan presented Mother Teresa with
the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985, the same year she
began work on behalf of AIDS sufferers in the US and other
countries.
In 1997, Congress awarded Mother Teresa the
Congressional Gold Medal for her "outstanding and enduring
contributions through humanitarian and charitable activities."
Mother Teresa died in Kolkata on September 5, 1997,
and is buried there. She had been a citizen of India since
1948. Mother Teresa, an ethnic Albanian, was born Agnes Gonxha
Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910, in Skopje in what is now the
Republic of Macedonia. PTI LKJ
KAB



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