How It Works

1. Through media presentations and various outreach programs, we have built up a donation pool available to pay for the dinners of Marines deploying from and returning to Camp Pendleton from Afghanistan and Iraq.
   
   
2. Participating restaurants display a Dine and Deploy flyer in their window.
   
   
3. Dinner guests who notice the flyer and wish to participate request a paper donation form on which they can use their credit card to contribute to the Dine and Deploy Program. This is faxed to us. Donors can also use the form to mail a check, or they can use our online donation form with a credit card. They can designate a participating restaurant or leave it for the Marine to choose.
   
   
4. The Armed Services YMCA sends a thank-you letter to the donor showing the amount donated. This can be used to verify a tax-deductible donation to a designated 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
   
   
5. Commanders of deploying Marine units receive a book of Dine and Deploy dinner vouchers from the Armed Services YMCA that they can distribute to their deploying Marines.
   
   
6. A Marine receiving a voucher writes his name, unit, and date on the voucher stub as shown at right. The vouchers are sequentially numbered and not transferrable.
   
   
7. A Marine goes to a participating restaurant with a voucher, and asks for a free dinner up to $50 in value as part of this Dine & Deploy program.
   
   
8. The restaurant asks to look at an ID (drivers license, military ID) and matches that to the name on the voucher, and makes sure the date is within 30 days.
   
   

9. Free Dinner Pictures The Photographic Art Club of San Clemente has volunteered to send photographers to Dine and Deploy dinners. Each Marine gets two 8x10 pictures to remember their dinner at no cost. We need at least a 48-hour notice emailed to Peter Shikli to make arrangements. Please include the date, time, and restaurant in your request, as well as the addresses where we are to mail the pictures.

   After dinner, the restaurateur sends (mail or fax) the voucher and a copy of the Marine's dinner bill to the Dine and Deploy headquarters:

   Camp Pendleton ASYMCA
   Attn: Suzanne Tabrum / Dine and Deploy Program
   Box 555028, Bldg 16144
   Camp Pendleton, CA 92055
   FAX: 760-385-0785

10. The Armed Services YMCA pays the restaurant the full amount of the bill up to the $50 limit per dinner.
    
    

Q: What is this program's overhead?

A: All operations are provided on a volunteer basis. We have no overhead. If you donate $20, then $20 will go toward a Marine's dinner. Bizware is donating all operating costs.

Q: Do the Marines need to buy something, join some group, promote some restaurant, pay some fee, order some particular food, go at some particular (non-busy) time?

A: No

Q: Do Marines need to wear their uniform to dinner?

A: We like to see a Marine in uniform, but this is up to the Marine. Also, the USMC has regulations regarding wearing uniforms off-base, and those need to be followed.

Q: Do Marines need to make a restaurant reservation?

A: That depends on the restaurant and how busy they are when the Marine would like to dine. Marines don't need to make a reservation just because they are participating in the Dine and Deploy Program.

Q: What keeps people from abusing the system to get a free dinner when they're not deploying Marines?

A: Primarily, their integrity. Secondarily, the voucher are uniquely numbered and tracked.

Q: Are my donations tax deductible?

A: Dine and Deploy Program contributions to the Armed Services YMCA, a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, are deductible for computing income and estate taxes.

Q: Is this restricted to San Clemente restaurants, and just to Camp Pendleton Marines?

A: Yes. If the program proves effective in this test case, we will consider expanding it in the future.