by: Eddie Allen

In 1992, Becky Thane started an organization to assist at the military bases overseas. She knew there is nothing worse than finding a great coupon only to realize that it has already expired. She also knew that the bases were the answer to that problem. They accept coupons that have expired.

Military commissaries overseas accept manufacturer coupons for up to six months past their printed expiration dates. That means that coupons that are useless to you can still save overseas military families some money by your sending these coupons to them no more than 2 months expired.

Initially the OCP was run as a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity under the name ‘Overseas Coupon Project’. Acts of Congress in 2001 and 2002 increased active duty military pay. Congress also commited to keep military pay higher. This has brought the vast majority of active duty service families above the Federal poverty level. Because of these changes, OCP was unable to maintain non-profit status.

We still felt, however, that many military families appreciate and need our help. So, we restructured our organization and changed the name to the Overseas Coupon Program. At that time I (Edward W. Allen III) took over the program. I had been with OCP for 5 years as an assistant running the Western USA distribution under the old program.

The program is now at www.ocpnet.org and is run fully on the internet. Most Americans have access to the internet or to someone that can access it for them. This site gives information on how to participate in the program:

To adopt a base and gives the base address.

To cut, sort and dollar total the coupons and how to ship them

To report the totals to the OCP to be posted at our web site

You can contribute as an individual or organization. A typical sunday news paper may have over $100 worth of coupons.

The base staff and the OCP staff are all voluntary. We do the best we can with our small staffs. The bases will not always be able to contact you and acknowledge receipt. They concentrate on getting the coupons out.

We at the OCP also get busy with real life at times and cannot always get back to you immediately. Remember that we do try to work on this every day but real life sometimes gets in the way.

About the Article:
Find out more about sending your expired coupons to military families overseas at www.ocpnet.org.