Pen Pal Tree community terms
Pen Pal Tree helps people and organizations discover and coordinate opportunities for meaningful connection with older adults. By using the service, you agree to use it lawfully, truthfully, respectfully, and with appropriate permission.
Pen Pal Tree is a connection platform
Pen Pal Tree facilitates introductions, listings, pledges and coordination. It is not a healthcare provider, emergency service, background-check provider, transportation provider, or guarantor of another user's conduct. Organizations and participants remain responsible for their own decisions and safety requirements.
Accounts and truthful information
Provide accurate information and do not impersonate another person or organization. Community claims may require review. A public directory listing does not mean that an organization participates in or endorses Pen Pal Tree.
Organizations and volunteers
Receiving organizations determine their own visitor, volunteer, screening, orientation, photography, food, infection-control and other safety requirements. A Pen Pal Tree profile or match does not represent that a volunteer has passed a background check.
Older adults, children and permission
Do not create public resident profiles or disclose unnecessary sensitive information. Children participate through responsible adults or organizations. Personal celebration requests should be created by the older adult, with their permission, or by an appropriate family member/caregiver coordinating the request.
Prohibited conduct
Do not use Pen Pal Tree to harass, exploit or deceive people; solicit money from vulnerable adults; obtain private medical or financial information; publish content without appropriate permission; spam participants; circumvent organization safety procedures; or use the platform for unlawful activity.
Mail, gifts, food and visits
Follow the recipient's stated mailing instructions and organization policies. Do not assume food, beverages, gifts or in-person visits are appropriate. Dietary, swallowing, allergy, infection-control and visitor restrictions may not be visible online.
Adopt for Christmas, gifts and wish cards
Only a community’s staff or authorized volunteers may post a gift or Adopt list, and wish cards may be shared only with the permission of the resident or their family or legal representative. Gifts go directly from volunteers to the community: Pen Pal Tree does not handle money, gifts or deliveries and cannot guarantee that a gift arrives or is used as described. Volunteers decide what to give and follow the community’s gift rules.
New communities and automatic safety checks
Communities can add themselves at any time. For their first days their requests show a “New community” note, and a community is paused automatically when several people report it. Pen Pal Tree does not inspect, endorse or guarantee communities; if in doubt, call the community at its public phone number before sending gifts.
Content and moderation
You remain responsible for content you submit. Pen Pal Tree may review, limit, hide, suspend or remove listings or accounts when reasonably necessary for safety, integrity, legal compliance, or platform operation. Users may report concerns through the Report a Concern page.
No guarantee of matches or delivery
Pen Pal Tree does not guarantee that a request will receive responses, that a pledged card will arrive, or that a connection will continue. Impact figures distinguish pledges from received or completed activity when that information is available.
Service changes
Features may change as Pen Pal Tree develops. We may update these terms and will reflect material changes by updating the effective date.
Public directory data
Find a Community includes facility names, business addresses and phone numbers from public directories. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (UK), the Open Government Licence – Canada (Statistics Canada, Open Database of Healthcare Facilities) and the Open Government Licence – British Columbia.
Australian aged care services: Source: GEN Aged Care Data, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare — Aged care service list, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). U.S. nursing home information comes from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services provider data, and U.S. assisted living information from state licensing agencies. Directory details are refreshed regularly but may be out of date; please check with the community.
Contact
Questions about these terms can be submitted through Contact Us.