The Alliance Stamp Project was the brainchild of Rev. Robert Searing Sr., C&MA missionary to Colombia, South America. After World War II the postwar economy limited direct cash assistance from the Alliance National Office. An avid stamp collector, Searing had the idea of funding a Spanish-language literature ministry through the sale of canceled stamps.

Searing wrote to churches and friends in the United States asking them to send him two-pound, dutyfree packages of stamps from envelopes and packages they had received. He would then repackage and sell the stamps to collectors and dealers.

This ministry-funding effort grew through word of mouth. According to Evelyn Neale, leader of the Fort Myers, Florida, project, “Someone collecting [used stamps] would tell their friends or relatives, and they’d begin collecting and sending stamps.”

Project Comes to America

When Searing returned to the United States in the 1960s for furlough, he brought the project with him. Initially, young people hoping to attend Bible college were paid to sort and package the stamps, but this reduced the amount of money available for missions efforts. Dedicated volunteers were needed to ensure continuity and to keep costs minimal.

Through contacts at the C&MA National Office, seniors living at Shell Point Village in Fort Myers were asked to lend their assistance. The project has been located there since 1971. The first year the project was based at Shell Point, more than $4,100 was raised; and it soon also funded a radio ministry based in Colombia. In 1975, Neale took over the reins of the Stamp Project.

“I moved to Fort Myers in 1974,” Neale said. “I became involved [in the project] and met Martha Herbert, who had been heading up the ministry.” Martha needed to step down from leadership due to health problems, and Neale was asked to take over administration of the project, but she declined.

“I had just moved to Florida, and I had been having headaches and severe ulcers. I didn’t think I could do it,” declares Neale. “Martha asked again, and then a third time, and I declined each time. However, the Lord convicted me and I accepted. Since then,” she says, “I don’t get the headaches and ulcers. The Lord has been very good to me.”

Strength in Numbers

Volunteers work on the projects Tuesdays and Fridays. “Many volunteers also take stamps home to sort,” states Neale. “No one is paid; we are all volunteers.”

“We have churches of all denominations participating in the project,” Neale adds. “More than 3,500 churches and individuals contribute.”

Basically, the project is a wholesaler to more than 2,000 stamp dealers nationwide, and it has just gone international with shipments to a dealer in Europe. As packages of stamps come in, volunteers sort, trim and package the stamps for resale. Others handle the billing and payments. “I don’t think we’ve had a single uncollectible invoice the entire time I have been involved,” Neale states.

“Each church or person sending us stamps gets a thank-you note,” Neale says. The majority of the stamps are sorted and placed in 50-pound boxes of “common” stamps. All U. S. stamps from 1/2 cent to 37 cents are considered common.

“We can’t get enough foreign stamps,” Neale explains. “We get the most money for those, as well as some of the commemorative stamps.” It is suggested that people buy commemorative stamps (they cost no more than standard, first-class stamps) since some commemoratives earn a higher profit.

The project is paid by the pound for common stamps. Higher denominations and foreign stamps are sold individually and net a higher return.

Boxes of common stamps had been selling moderately well, but there was always a backlog of boxes on hand. However, through publicizing the availability of the common stamp boxes, the Stamp Project now has back orders for these boxes.

Treasure from Trash

The ministry efforts that the project assists have changed over the years. Initially, it paid for Spanish-language Christian literature. For many years it funded “Alliance on the March” radio ministry based in Colombia. However, during the late 1990s, airtime costs forced the program off the air. The Stamp Project now funds Spanishlanguage Sunday school materials for Alliance churches in South America.

“Thirty other denominations also use the materials [funded by this project],” says Neale. “Last year was our best ever—we raised more than $30,000 for the ministry.”

Next time you receive a letter or package in the mail, look at the stamp on the envelope. Do you see it differently now? While most people would see the stamp as trash, to people in South America it is more valuable than gold—for it can deliver the message of the gospel and eternal life!

Heather Thyne attends Grace Alliance Church in Piscataway, N.J., where her husband, Chuck, is an elder. She is the mother of Kevin and Luann, works as an immigration paralegal and writes “Grace Notes,” a newsletter for Grace Alliance.

This article Copyright Alliance Life Magazine October 2002, reprinted with permission.