ATT: O.H. Authority, AMY or JACKIE

I think that perhaps - for the sake of responsible communication - and for the interest of many involved in the Secret Pal Program - we (as a group) should speak to Amy or someone else in charge of this site - regarding the inability to communicate real and/or changing events in our lives - that effect each of our "personal commitments" to this venture of being/acting as a "Secret Buddy". I know that Jackie has had a personal crisis - and that is absolutely acceptable and understandable - however - in the event that others among this group have had the same thing - or simular happen to them (even perhaps not on such a grand scale) - we are now left in a spot where we can not be responsible to let "another" know that. I commend Jackie for taking on this great program single-handed - what a commitment. ((((Jackie my thoughts are with you during this time)))) Examples: What if we or our partner has moved? The responsible thing would have been to let the Leader (Jackie) know - and then SHE could let the secret buddie assigned to me know "My New Address"... or vice versa. I just had some major emergency construction done in front of my house - and as a result - a weeks worth of my mail was either held or sent back (without my knowledge) - because I was out of town when it happened. So.... my "Secret Buddy" - who has been very faithful - may have sent something that was either returned or is in "Limbo" somewhere. I don't know how to "Let her know" I didn't recieve anything or that this may have happened - other than this forum. I feel bad because the items she has sent to me are very nice and appreciated - and now I feel personally irresponsible for not being able to communicate with her of what was going on. If I were her - I would feel like I was not worth the effort to be contacted and that my packages were not important. If you are reading this and are my Secret Buddy... I want you to know that is not how I feel at all. I just had no way to let you know. Also, I changed my O.H. Name - and would like to delete my old profile that I originally joined this as... but keep it here because I can not contact anyone to let my buddy know my new name. It is just little things like that. I am thinking that many who feel that they have been wronged here by their secret buddy - may not have been wronged on purpose. This program is more than just a commitment to a Secret Buddy - it is also an investment - and the shipping/time/items we send - are all valuable. We MUST have a way to communicate - if need be... in the sake of fairness. For the sake of those who are still "IN" - and for those who still want to be in... I think that the best thing to do would be to have O.H. contact the leader and "get" the contact list and enlist "SEVERAL" - not just one person - to act as laisions - to assist Jackie in this huge endeavor. It was/is just too much for one person. Anyone else feel the same? I am going to send a copy of this to AMY and ask that she reply to this forum as well. I am HAPPY with this SECRET BUDDY PROGRAM and want to continue... but I think we need several avenues for contact points. Amy - Please reply here and copy at the Main Forum Limeandaqua~ and Comingofage

Very well said! Thank you Comingofage! You speak for all of us that are having problems... Bye for now! Christina V's Secret Pal!

This is a difficult situation. I want to explain how this happened. Basically we got a request from Jackie to open this board, we did so. Unfortunately how the program is ran is up to the one who started it. I want to make some suggestions to help with this. I personally don't have the time to be able to run something this like right now. It takes a lot of time to run and organize this. I've been involved in the past with a secret santa program and you have to be on top of it and have someone as a co-leader. Here's what I'm suggesting: Someone contact Jackie, if you are unable to contact her to get any type of list, then someone else who is a leader would need to step up to fill in her shoes. You would need to start from scratch basically. Those in the program would need to email one person to organize it and give the information for the person they have. It would be a matter of sorting through it all. Find those who are NOT getting anything and remove the person from the program, and you would then need to replace them with a new person. I see new people always wanting to join. Again this would mean someone would need to be able to keep on top of the list and I would suggest 2 people have the "master list". Also it needs to be very clear, how long is the program for, what is the limits on what you can send, price wise. Do you want them to send something monthly, is a card ok so often and a small gift here and there throughout the year? This is something the leader would need to come up with. As for anyone who has an account they want to delete please log into the account and send an email through the system in your profile, go to "my account" then under "general info" at the top there is a link to delete account, send email through the system and we can locate the account to delete or email member services at [email protected] with information like the email on the account you want deleted on the site, the email would need to come from the email on the account to do this. If I can help in some ways I will, but it sounds like someone will need to take over and contact Jackie to assist her. It will be needed for the program to be successful and people have to understand what they are signing up for, you can't expect to get gifts and not give anything. It's got to be something you want to commit to. Amy

To be honest Amy - I only know the name of the group leader as "Jackie" - and am not even sure her "real" or "O.H." name - sepcifically... so I am not even able to contact her regarding any request - I could not even email her with my own information changes - and that is why I (personally) thought contacting you would be the best bet. Perhaps another person here knows her - and can make that contact - but if not - perhaps you having had talked to her originally about her taking this on - can email her and let her know of this post/concern - and then perhaps she will contact you. If she makes a request post for help in the forum - I am fairly certain that someone may be willing to step forward and help - at least in passing on some communications. Otherwise - I guess there will continue to be some disappointed people - and maybe even unjustly so. I keep picturing packages sent faithfully month after month - to wrong addresses, etc. Is that workable? I know that this is a busy time for you too - especially with the big change in the system going on... but perhaps when you have a couple minutes downtime - you may be able to send her some personal coorspondance regarding this. Thank you so much for your willingness to offer advice and support - as always.

Her OH name is Duke Blue. I emailed her last week and haven't gotten a reply! Hope this helps? ~~hugs and well wishes~~ Chris