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| An Interview with Hope Tarr |
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NOT ONLY STAMPS! BUT ALSO, AN AMERICAN PARTNERSHIP! LEARN MORE ABOUT THE STAMPS, SPAY/NEUTER AND THE PARTNESHIP AT The American Partnership for Pets Website STAMP OUT Campaign History (1996-2001) Frequently Asked Questions An Interview with Hope Tarr Campaign Milestones Why a stamp? Why NOT a Semi-Postal? Stamp Out Press Releases Fabulous Farley! Celebrity Support Stamp Endorsements USPS Criteria Please Mr. Postmaster! "If one advances confidently in the directions of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. -- Henry David Thoreau |
Hope Tarr, the Stamp Out! Campaign's Director, was truly the spirit and the strategy behind the campaign that rallied the nation behind the request for a commemorative postage stamp dedicated to spay/neuter... PaLC is tremendously proud of Hope, and we consider her a national treasure and a heroine to the animals! We'd like to introduce you to her, and tell you a little about what inspired her and what kept her going for five long years! We understand that the idea of petitioning the post office for a spay-neuter commemorative stamp was the brainchild of NY Animal Advocate, Sally Giovanis. When and how did you first hear about it, and what particularly inspired you about the idea? I first learned of the idea back in 1995 when, in leafing through my copy of "Best Friends" Magazine, I happened upon Sally's Letter to the Editor urging animal lovers to write to the Postal Service on behalf of a Spay/Neuter stamp. I did-and promptly received a rather discouraging form letter reply basically stating that the proposal had been reviewed previously and decided against. Not one to take "no" (or even a presumed "no") for an answer when an idea was this good, this reasonable, I decided to hunt up Sally and learn the history of the effort. Unfortunately for me the magazine had identified her only as "Sally Giovanis, New York City) and when I called Best Friends to see if they could pass on my message to her, I discovered she wasn't a member. There followed several months of trying to track her down. I finally did-not through the phone book but through another group of which she was a member, New Yorkers for Companion Animals-they kindly passed along my message and, as they say, "the rest is history." Were you merely curious about the idea at first, or did you have an immediate "oho, this is it!" moment? The latter-the idea just clicked with me instantly. I thought it was so clever, yet so beautifully simple. And I knew both in my heart and my mind that I was going to do whatever I could to see this lifesaving message on a stamp. In this case ignorance WAS bliss Had you ever put together such a campaign before? No, this was a first for me, although certainly I'm a lifelong animal-lover and was already a member of several other animal welfare groups, so I was fairly well versed in the major issues and already had strong personal convictions about the importance of spaying and neutering. Coordinating the effort was another matter entirely. Before I could "grow" the campaign, I had to grow myself. Foremost, I had to get over my shyness of "cold-calling" individuals and organizations and I had to get over it fast. I had to develop a thick skin in terms of coping with rejection-believe me when I say that in those early days there weren't all that many folks, be they media, animal welfare, veterinarians, you name it, who were all that eager to take my calls. And though my "day job" involved a fair amount of technical writing, I'd never before written a press release. Did you expect the campaign to last for five years? Given the track record of other grassroots commemorative stamp efforts, I'd expected it to last a good deal longer. In fact, I'd made a pact with myself that I would give it [the SO effort] up to ten years. That said, I'm beyond thrilled to have attained our goal in half that while I'm still reasonably young-and ambulatory Was there anything in your life that prepared you for such a long haul? I've always been a determined (i.e., stubborn) person. I've always believed-and still do-that what is worth having is worth sacrificing for, fighting for if necessary. And I have good organizing skills. Although now I'm a full-time fiction author, when I began STAMP OUT I was working as a program evaluator and so all the data gathering and organizing, the general "creating order from chaos" personality characteristics that served me in good stead career-wise fed into STAMP OUT. Hope, in the recent past other individuals and groups have lobbied for commemorative stamps, sometimes with animal welfare themes, and failed. Can you tell us briefly what was your strategy for STAMP OUT? In a word, "inclusiveness." Always our focus was to build on our major strength-our common love of dogs and cats-while avoiding getting bogged down in any philosophical differences. My sense from the get-go was that, if we were to have a prayer of winning issuance of this stamp, the proposal mustn't appear to be allied with any single community. The Spay/Neuter Your Pet couldn't be seen as an animal welfare issue only but rather as an American issue. Not for a moment should this be taken to downplay the truly enormous outpouring of support we received from animal welfare organizations across the country such as the ASPCA, the Doris Day Animal League, or the Ark Trust-to name but a few. The animal welfare community is a vital piece to this puzzle, to be sure, but our success hinged on the ability to bring together not just AW groups but all the major stakeholders. The endorsement of veterinarians and veterinary medical groups would prove to be essential. I recall one "all nighter" where I stayed up writing letters to each of the fifty state veterinary medical associations; the following evening, I repeated the process, this time working from a roster of the major U.S. veterinary medical colleges. And then there were stamp collectors-it stands to reason that the people who buy stamps and buy them in bulk would wield tremendous influence in postal matters pertaining to stamp offerings. Two chapters of the American Philatelic Society (APS) publicized the project in their membership newsletters; online the Virtual Stamp Club has been a tremendous support in getting the word out. As the campaign took shape, we added to the mix politicians, media celebrities such as Mr. Bob Barker, breed rescuers and then the SO really began to spread its wings and fly. And finally, let's not forget those folks who were the heart and soul of this campaign-regular animal-lovers. Private citizens, people who oftentimes had never before worked on an "animal welfare" issue, nonetheless lent us their support and we're very, very proud of that. Do any particular events (large or small) during the campaign stand out for you? Oh gosh, that's a tough one. Certainly our first glimmer of hope was in the autumn of 1998 when I learned that the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC), the Postal body charged with reviewing the public's requests for stamps, had recommended Spay/Neuter Your Pet for "future issuance." Basically that meant that, from the literally thousands of submissions received, the stamp proposal went to the topmost tier of the stack-one of a hundred odd versus mired amongst thousands. That confirmed that we were definitely on the right track in terms of tactics. And then Mr. Phil Frank, a nationally know cartoonist whose work appears daily in The San Francisco Chronicle, featured STAMP OUT in not one but FOUR of his delightful "Farley" cartoon strips. And not on the cartoon page but on a main news page at that! Talk about validation. Then in the summer of 1999, I received a call from the ASPCA's legislative affairs office in Washington, DC proposing that PaLC and the "A" work together on a Congressional resolution for the stamp. Though we didn't succeed in finding a Member to sponsor the resolution, this was in its own way a rather major deal because it demonstrated that the major animal welfare groups were starting to sit up and take notice of us. As it happened, we got the very next best thing to a resolution, a Congressional "sign-on" letter co-sponsored by Members Benjamin Gilman (R-NY) and Tom Lantos (D-CA). We were able to muster 53 Congressional signatures and the letter, which urged then Postmaster Henderson to issue Spay/Neuter Your Pet as a U.S. commemorative stamp, landed on Mr. Henderson's desk on August 7th, 1999. From 1999 until this spring, the STAMP OUT may have seemed quiet on the surface but, behind the scenes, PaLC continued to work toward growing our support base. Like the "Little Engine That Could" slowly but surely we kept chugging along, winning endorsements from national, sometimes international celebrities such as the late great Jack Lemmon, guesting on a number of radio programs, continuing to press for coverage in the mainstream print media. And last but hardly least, TODAY when for the very first time I viewed the actual stamps' images, now posted on PaLC's website, www.palc.org. The kitten, is a tabby with similar markings to mine but it was when I clapped eyes on the puppy that my eyes filled with tears. You see the puppy bears a strong resemblance to the dog I had growing up. Like the puppy, my Bozie was a little "mutt" with large soulful eyes that could penetrate straight into your heart with a single glance. I had the good fortune to have him for my companion from the time I was three years old until I was a college freshman-I loved him so very dearly. And so the resemblance between my childhood companion and the puppy, soon to be of national fame, just makes the project's success even that much more special for me personally. The Postal Service received at least 200,000 letters - clearly many people rallied to the call for the Stamp, and I know that you are extremely grateful to everyone who took the time to write in to the Postal Service or to endorse the campaign! However, are there any particularly exceptional people you'd like to thank? In the course of "growing" the campaign, I've been blessed to meet and in some cases collaborate with myriad wonderful folks in the animal welfare field, but two very special ladies stand out in my mind. Esther Mechler, founder of Spay/USA, was my very first mentor. I met Esther at a national AR/AW conference in Crystal City, VA back in 1996. Esther was one of a panel of experts and, after listening to her speak, was just so struck by how smart she was, how positive. Back then I was so shy that it took just about every jot of nerve I had to force myself to go up to her after the panel and introduce myself. Nervous, I "pitched" my idea for the Spay/Neuter Stamp. I'll never forget the smile she gave me as she said, "Well, I think that's a fabulous idea! We should be able to get that." In the coming months as I worked toward the campaign's start-up, she was never too busy to offer advice or to suggest an organization or individual I might contact. Over the years, she has been a stalwart friend and mentor, and has featured the SO Campaign in her Spay/USA newsletter every time we had breaking news to report. Marianne Radziewicz, formerly with the ASPCA's Legislative Affairs office in Washington, DC, was the brain behind the Congressional "sign-on" letter. During what has to have been one of THE most wretchedly hot and humid Washington, DC summers on record, Marianne ferried me from Congressional office to office, introducing me to the staffers charged with animal issues, and basically teaching me to "walk the walk and talk the talk." Marianne's commitment and dedication to the animals, her savvy and experience in winning animal-friendly federal legislation, her just plain wisdom and patience were of inestimable help and though she's no longer with the A, we wish her well in her future endeavors. There have been some tears through this process we understand! What does it feel like to hope for a yes, for five years, and then there it is your dream comes true... TWO stamps? Amazing. Gratifying. Humbling. One of THE most emotional moments of my life was that day-August 22nd-when I received The Call that the stamp (or rather, stamps) were a go! And to actually see the stamp images today-well, let's just say it's pretty heady stuff. OK on to the questions about which we're particularly curious - who "is" Hope Tarr???? Could you tell us a little about yourself - what you do in your "other" life? What an interesting background… and how thrilling, an author - what books have you written? Okay, better brace yourselves-in my "other" life, I write historical romance novels. Writing commercial is a dream I've cherished since I was twelve years old and one that I let fall by the wayside for too many years as I pursued a more "practical" career track. Then in 1993 I decided that it was pick up the pieces of my dream and see if I couldn't just turn it into reality. Six years later, I made my first manuscript sale to Berkley/Jove Publishers, a division of Penguin Putnam, Inc. My debut novel, A Rogue's Pleasure, came out last November and is still available both in stores and at any of the online retail venues, including amazon.com with which PaLC affiliates for fundraising. I'm thrilled to report that it's a nominee for Romantic Times' Magazine's Career Achievement Award for Best First Historical. And I have two more historical romances to be released in 2002. My Lord Jack, a Scottish historical, will be available in May '02, and The Dairyman's Daughter (tentative title) in September '02. And all my heroes and heroines just happen to LOVE animals-go figure (smile!) You can read excerpts from A Rogue's Pleasure and My Lord Jack on my personal website www.hopetarr.com, and I'm gearing up to provide a monthly online newsletter for readers, so please do take a moment to stop by the site and sign up! Now no interview would be complete without a question about your pets! I'm the proud "mommy" of three adorable kitties, all females, all rescues and of course, all spayed! My twelve year old tabby is my pride and joy, truly a soul mate albeit one with four paws, fur, and a tail! The other two kitties are more recent additions but very beloved. Blythe, my part Persian, is a living testimony that a diagnosis of "FiV-positive" need **not** be a death sentence. She's a sweet little girl with loads of love to give and a fur coat that would put Zsa Zsa to shame. Lady Jane, our eighteen month old, adopted US about a month ago when she trotted up our porch steps and used me as a springboard to leap onto my husband's lap and slather him with kitty kisses. (We think LJ may have been a dog in a "former life.") We know that there's an unsung hero in this saga somewhere! You bet there is. My husband (and best friend, and soul mate, and all-around prince of a guy), Earl Pence. Earl has supported me-and by extension, SO-in just about every way one human being can support another. In those early days of the campaign, he helped design tabletop displays, edit documents, really whatever was needed. And as we often found ourselves short of "testoserone" (in other words, brawn), he's been called on to haul and heft myriad boxes and displays and whatnot to and from events. On the home front, he's cooked and cleaned up after more late night dinners than either of us could probably count. No matter how hectic his own schedule (he is the co-founder of QED Consulting, a management consulting firm headquartered in Arlington, VA), he was always on hand to offer constructive advice, encouraging words, and beyond all, to just listen. (And believe me, there were some evenings when "listening" involved having a box of Kleenex tissues in close reach). And when I received the word that the stamps (plural!) were to be issued in 2002, he cried the happy tears along with me because he understood, truly understood, just what this meant for not only me personally but for the animals. Has it sunk in yet, that these stamps will provide in an educational tool for every animal advocate in the country to use to promote the benefits of spay/neuter? Yes and no. Seeing the stamp images for the first time earlier today has helped to make it all a bit more "real," and I can't wait to watch "The Price is Right" on December 11th to see the actual unveiling occur on national television. What a tremendous thrill! One of the truly wonderful things about this country we live in is that we do have the liberty, the freedom, to all pick up the proverbial "banner" if we so chose. We all have a choice-to do good, to do evil, or to simply do nothing. And so many of us-in STAMP OUT's case, thousands of Americans, chose to do good, to make a positive difference. No, I don't presume for a nanosecond that I can save the whole wide world. But what I can do and YOU can do is to make our corner of it a bit brighter, a more humane place for the humans and animals with whom we share it. Thank you-and keep the faith! Thank you Hope Tarr - we will remember your campaign for the animals for many, many years! © Prevent a Litter Coalition, 2001 |