Has your son or daughter received a letter telling them that because of their achievements they have been "nominated" to join a People to People delegation for the trip of a lifetime? As you read the letter you will notice that past and present US presidents endorse this wonderful opportunity for the young people to spread goodwill to other countries? You will also notice that no cost is mentioned in the letter. Now are you thinking that because of your child's achievement they are being honored with a cost free trip sponsored by a government agency?
By now your child is really excited! She has just been offered the dream trip of a lifetime. You go ahead with confirming your reservation for the orientation meeting thinking that this honor will be at no cost or little cost to you. After all, your child was nominated for this honor. The excitement builds as the date for the orientation meeting approaches. You've been baited - now for the switch! This "honor" of being "nominated" comes with a hefty price tag. The program presenter shows you enticing pictures of past trips. Former travelers sing the praises of the program. You are told not to worry about the price of the trip. There are wonderful fund raising ideas on the website. So you pay your $95 registration fee, go through the interview process and then look at the website for the fund raising ideas. Access to this part of the website is only granted after you pay the $95 dollars and "pass" the interview. Now you find out that the best fund raising idea they have is to send "begging" letters to friends and family. Gee, don't feel too good about that! But, they also state that there are scholarships available. So you start searching the website for how to apply for these. Never do find any information about that. So you send an email through the contact provided on the website inquiring about the scholarships and how to apply. You spend your nights and weekends working on items to sell and searching for a business that will let you sell at their site. Not too much luck there. No church or business is willing to allow this activity when it is to benefit only one child. Then the bills start coming. You pay the first $1000.00, and resign yourself to send out the "begging" letters. Then one day as you continue searching for information about those elusive scholarships you find that the winners of the scholarships have been announced! Of course those emails you've been sending have never been answered. This is were I finally wised up. I googled the program and found out that it is a for profit organization which in reality is nothing more than a solicitation arm of a travel agency. They nominate you and you get to solicit the money from your family and friends. They are listed on the NASDAQ, too. Well, stop this train I want off. I don't appreciate being "nominated" to solicit money to support a travel agency. I have requested that my daughter be removed from participation in this program and I have requested a refund of my $1000.00. This request has been emailed, faxed and sent through registered mail. No response has been received! Please pray for us that our money will be refunded. I need it to have the "sucker" tattoo removed from my forehead!
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