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'Christmas Seals' Have Roots In The Area

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A key fundraiser for the American Lung Association is now underway and it started in the tri-state area.

When a tiny tuberculosis sanitorium in Delaware needed money to stay afloat a century ago doctors turned to a local fundraiser who came up with the idea for Christmas Seals:

"She would design and print special holiday seals and the first seals were actually sold in the Wilmington post office in 1907 for a penny."

Deborah Brown, CEO of the American Lung Association of the Mid Atlantic region, says now the area raises some $3 million with its Christmas seals campaign. The money once used for tuberculosis is now used to battle asthma and other lung diseases.

Reported by: Lynne Adkins KYW Newsradio.

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