The Surprising, Easy Way to Support Our Troops
Just as there are extreme couponers, there are extremely bad couponers. These are people (like me) who get excited about coupons, clip them out, carry them around for a while or put them in a pile and promptly … don’t think about them again until way after the expiration date. Bummer!
While this can seem like a waste, it can also be an opportunity to help someone out who might not have access to coupons — specifically, our troops overseas who are shopping at government-run commissaries on our military bases. This opportunity is actually very easy to take advantage of.
You can send expired grocery coupons to our overseas troops!
It turns out that commissaries, the government-run grocery stores on military bases overseas, can take manufacturer coupons up to six months after they expire. Knowing that, Support Our Troops, an organization dedicated to helping out American military families in a number of ways, started a program called Troopons (get it?) to create an easy and efficient way to get these coupons to people who can use them. Because while our troops are paid by the government, everyone is on a grocery budget, and depending on where they’re stationed, they could be in an expensive area where their dollar doesn’t go as far.
Here’s how it works: You clip out coupons, then separate them into categories (food, non-food, baby, and pet). Package each stack in its own zip-top baggie, and mail the bundle to Support Our Troops (P.O. Box 70, Daytona Beach, FL 32115-0070). They’ll distribute them to various bases overseas and at home (if the coupons are not yet expired) based on information they have about the needs of the communities they’re serving. In case you’re wondering: The reason you have to sort the coupons yourself is because neither Support Our Troops nor the military has the extra manpower to do it.
Send expired coupons to:
Support Our Troops
P.O. Box 70
Daytona Beach, FL
32115-0070
So whether you had good money-saving intentions that went bad, or are looking for a way to give back that fits within your own budget, consider sending your coupons to the Troopons program to help a military family. Your coupons could be extra helpful this time of year.
Have you done this before?