Miss America 2020 notes the importance of mail, drug safety

Philatelic Foreword by Jay Bigalke

The importance of the mail to Miss America 2020, 24-year-old Camille Schrier, is quite strong to say the least, from always being a supporter of the mail to even saving mail that has been sent to her over the years.

On Oct. 27, I had the honor of an exclusive interview with Schrier at the Drug Enforcement Agency’s, Arlington, Va., office. Because of her social impact initiative, “Mind Your Meds: Drug Safety and Abuse Prevention from Pediatrics to Geriatrics,” she was invited to participate in the ceremony for the new Drug Free USA forever stamp.

“I am very old school, so I use stamps all the time,” Schrier said when asked about how the public will use the Drug Free USA stamp. “It’s a great way to recognize this issue in a public forum.”

“One of the things that is unique to me in this role is signing autographs, especially through Covid because I am not able to interact with the public. And so I will get requests on social media from people who are interested in getting a signed card from Miss America or maybe one for their family member. So I’ve done probably hundreds of those throughout this time,” Schrier said.

She also said that she responds to social media posts about adults in nursing homes looking for pen pals.

“I’ll find a couple of those names and I’ll send some autographed cards to them to kind of raise their spirits,” she said.

I asked her if she saved the mail she has received over the years, not just as Miss America. Her response was entertaining.

“If I told you that I probably haven’t thrown away a card for the last 10 years of my life, would you believe me? Because, especially through this job, people give me cards or I get things in the mail. I get letters from little girls who are excited to talk to Miss America or send Miss America a letter, and letters from friends and family. I have boxes of cards.

“Because I’ve always cherished that kind of physical thing that’s been sent to me that’s been a part of my life for a long time. And so I have boxes of mail and cards.”

Concluding the interview, we discussed the topic of the stamp issue, and she shared this: “I think that it’s important that we continue talking about drug safety through this time because these issues are worsening during Covid instead of getting better. And so when we’re talking a lot about saving lives through Covid-19 masks to protect ourselves and others we should be doing the same thing in terms of substance use disorder and abuse and overdose and so it’s important that we continue to talk about those things, too.”

When asked if she had anything else to tell an audience of stamp collectors, she said, “That this [stamp] should definitely be added to your collection number one and maybe this will start my stamp collection because I think it’s an important thing and I’ll definitely treasure it as a great memory of my years as Miss America.”

Letters to Miss America can be sent to this address: The Miss America Organization, Attn: Camille Schrier, 591 Mantua Blvd., Suite 201, Sewell, NJ 08080.

For more information on Schrier’s background, visit the Miss America website.

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