Coupons for Troops

Cypress Cove at HealthPark Florida, working jointly with neighboring Lexington Country Club community, has sent more than $300,000 in coupons to overseas military and their families through the Daytona Beach-based Troopons program.

Program participation by Cypress Cove began in 2015 when the activities coordinator at the community’s skilled living facility incorporated the coupon clipping program into an optional resident activity schedule.

The skilled living team was so overwhelmed by donated coupons that volunteers from Cypress Cove’s concierge team, as well as resident volunteers, joined the effort. By end of the first year $24,000 in coupons had been clipped, sorted and forwarded to help relieve some of the financial burden for U.S. military families stationed abroad.

Donations have since accelerated with Lexington Country Club residents joining the local effort. Coupons are now collected from residents of Lexington and Cypress Cove on a daily basis. And then the work begins says Cypress Cove Troopons coordinator Linda Bleedorn. “Pages are separated (being mindful that only Manufacturer coupons are valid), then they are distributed to volunteers of our concierge team at independent living and The Lodge (skilled living),” she explains.

Once clipped, Linda sorts the returned coupons into groups, tabulates and binds them before sending them out for shipping abroad.

Over-seeing the Troopons program and other support programs is the not-for-profit organization – Support Our Troops – from Daytona Beach. Started in 2012, the organization last year was responsible for over $28 million in coupons being shipped overseas to our military.

Coupons are sorted into four categories: food items, non-food items, baby food/items and pet items.

Considering the number of organizations participating in the program, the Cypress Cove/Lexington contingent is represented as a fairly large contributor. Last year, this local team provided nearly $190,000 worth of coupons. And thus far in 2017, the team is on pace to surpass that figure.

The coupons meanwhile have been known to save military families hundreds of dollars each month.bout Cypress Cove at HealthPark Florida