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People to People Does It Again

Letter Invites Long-Dead Child to be an "Ambassador" for $5,000

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

December 1, 2006

People to People International An Investigative Report by Lisa Wade McCormick • Introduction • P2P: Ambassadors or Tourists? • P2P CEO "Mortified" • Parents Object to Student Lists • Not Everyone's Happy with People to People Trips • Fast Facts About People to People International • Update 12/06: It Happens Again • Deceased Cat Invited to be Student Ambassador --- News about P2P • Feds Asked to Probe Student's Death on People to People Tour • Student 'Ambassador' Dies Neglected & Alone • People to People Invites Dead Girl ... Again • People to People Executive Sentenced to Prison • People to People "Clarifies" Its Invitation Policy • Student Travel Service Still Misleading Parents • Student Travel Service Agrees To Modify Marketing --- • Consumer Complaints • Consumer Compliments

It's happened again. For at least the second time in less than a year, the marketing company for a non-profit organization -- founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower -- has sent a letter to the parents of a deceased child stating their teenager was named for an educational trip overseas.

This time, the parents live in New Port Richey, Florida.

They received the letter in August, 2006, stating "a teacher, former Student Ambassador, or national academic listing," named their daughter for this honor.

Their daughter, however, died in 1992. She was 18 days old and suffered multiple birth defects.

"It Makes You Very Angry"

"It makes you very angry because it makes you wonder how they could do that to someone," the child's mother told WFTS in Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida. "When they die you never forget, I mean, every day you think of them…there's no excuse ... it just re-opens the whole death all over again."

The girl's father called the letter "tear-jerking" and said "it eats you up inside."

In September 2005, a mother in Iowa received a letter from the same organization stating her son was named for a Student Ambassador trip overseas.

Her son, however, died in 1993. He was seven weeks old.

Iowa Calls It Misleading

The Iowa Attorney General's Office criticized the group's letter, saying it misled parents into "believing that their child was selected on merit when that is not the case, and that parents may be manipulated into making substantial expenditures they might otherwise decline to make."

Iowa officials discovered the organization also misled parents during its in-person presentations.

"(Those) also convey the message that students are specially selected as an honor," said Iowa Assistant Attorney General Steve St. Clair. "And we found that representatives with whom our investigator had phone contact described the program in the same manner."

In June, 2006, the organization agreed to modify its letter and presentations.

But parents across the country told ConsumerAffairs.com the organization continued to send its misleading letter -- and dupe students into believing they were hand-picked for expensive trips abroad. The trips cost an average of $5,000.

Some parents received a letter as recently as October, 2006.

Letters Come From People To People

The non-profit organization behind these letters is People To People International, which President Dwight D. Eisenhower founded in 1956.

People To People International is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. President Eisenhower's granddaughter, Mary Jean Eisenhower, is the group's president and chief executive officer.

"We all feel very badly that this has happened," Eisenhower said earlier this week of the letter sent the Florida parents. "This was a matter of human error. It was a mistake and we're trying to make it right. Our intent is to spread happiness -- not to hurt people."

When asked what action her organization will take in the wake of the Florida incident, Eisenhower referred questions to the president and chief executive officer of the for-profit company that markets the Student Ambassador programs.

Ambassador Group Responds

That company is the Ambassadors Group, Inc., based in Spokane, Washington. It sends letters to students nationwide on People To People letterhead.

Jeffrey D. Thomas is president and CEO of the publicly-traded Ambassador Group, Inc. (EPAX). He also lists his title as CEO of People To People, which Eisenhower says he has contractual authority to do.

"We're trying to work out a solution with the family in Florida," Thomas said. He declined to elaborate. After the incident in Iowa, People To People donated $5,000 to the Iowa SIDS Foundation and $20,000 to Blank Children's Hospital.

Thomas said a list service his company uses provided the name of the Florida child. But People To People, he said, may fire that service.

"We've told them that unless we know where you're getting these names -- and can assure us they're not deceased children -- we're not interested in working with you," Thomas said, adding the list service uses multiply sources to gather names.

Wording Of Letter Changed

Thomas also said People To People has changed the wording of its letter.

"We've moved quickly to make sure this doesn't happen again," he said. "We've changed the letter's wording so that there will be no way people can misconstrue anything about how we came to get their child's name. Our letter won't say their child was named or nominated unless we can trace the source. The letter will talk about the benefits of the program."

He added: "This is devastating. And we're investigating how it happened. Our goal is to do the right thing and we're working to get this fixed."

Thomas said the letters stating students were named by a "teacher, former Student Ambassador, or national academic listing," went out as recently as October, 2006, because "they were already in the pipeline."

He also said he's not aware of any other letters going to parents who lost a child years ago.

The parents in Florida hope that's true. They don't want another family to suffer like they did because of People To People's letter.

"I want them to clean up their act," the girl's mother told WFTS. "It's just unfair to everyone."

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