1. Who we are

Jeff's Second Family Prison Pen-Pal Ministry ("Jeff's Second Family," "the ministry," "we," "us," or "our") is a faith-based pen-pal program that connects volunteers with incarcerated men and women. The ministry is a program of Food For Children, Inc., a registered nonprofit organization based in Flushing, New York.

This Privacy Policy applies to information we collect through penpalministry.org and any related communications with the ministry.

2. What information we collect

Information you provide to us

When you register as a volunteer or contact the ministry, we may collect:

• Your name (or pen name / alias if you choose to use one)
• Your email address
• Your country and approximate location
• Information you share about yourself (interests, faith background, why you want to write) for use in matching
• Messages you send to us through the contact form, issue reporter, or in correspondence with ministry staff

Information collected automatically

When you visit penpalministry.org we automatically collect basic technical information, including approximate location based on IP address, the page you visited, the time of your visit, and which pages or links you clicked. This information is used to understand how the site is being used and to keep it working properly.

Information from inmates

The introduction letters and basic biographical information about incarcerated individuals shown on penpalministry.org are submitted to the ministry by those individuals (or by the ministry on their behalf, with their permission). Inmates can request to be added or removed from the waiting list at any time by writing to the ministry.

3. How we use your information

We use the information we collect to:

• Match you with an incarcerated pen pal and review match requests
• Communicate with you about your account, your match, and ministry updates
• Send you transactional emails (welcome message, match approval, follow-up reminders)
• Improve the ministry's services and the way the site works
• Respond to questions, support requests, and reports of issues
• Comply with legal obligations and protect the safety of volunteers, inmates, and ministry staff

4. Who we share information with

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. We do not share your information with advertisers or marketing partners. Information is shared only in the following limited circumstances:

With your incarcerated pen pal

Once a match is approved, the ministry will provide you with the inmate's name, ID number, and the appropriate communication channel (Securus, JPay, USPS, etc.). The inmate will not receive your contact information from the ministry — what you choose to share with them in your correspondence is up to you.

With service providers

We use a small number of trusted third-party services to operate the ministry, and your information may be processed by them on our behalf:

• Resend — to send transactional emails (welcome, match approval, etc.)
• Vercel — to host penpalministry.org
• Railway / Postgres — to host the ministry's database
• Anthropic — to provide letter-scanning text recognition (used internally; your personal information is not sent to Anthropic)
• Backblaze — to archive scanned letter images (when enabled)

These providers are contractually required to handle data in line with their own privacy policies and to use it only to deliver services to us.

Communication platforms

When you write to an inmate through Securus, JPay, GettingOut, ConnectNetwork, CORRLINKS, Smart Communications, TextBehind, or USPS, those services are operated by third parties and have their own privacy policies. The ministry has no control over how those platforms handle your information.

Legal requirements

We may disclose information if required to do so by law, in response to a valid legal process, or to protect the safety of volunteers, inmates, or ministry staff.

5. How we protect your information

We use commercially reasonable security measures to protect the information we collect. Account credentials are stored in hashed form. Communications between your browser and our servers are encrypted via HTTPS. Access to administrative functions is restricted to ministry leadership.

That said, no system is completely secure. If you become aware of any security concern with the ministry or its systems, please email us immediately so we can investigate.

6. Cookies and tracking

Penpalministry.org uses minimal browser storage:

• Authentication tokens — stored in your browser's local storage so you can stay signed in to the volunteer dashboard between visits
• Analytics pageview pings — sent to our backend so the ministry can see which pages are being visited (no personally identifying information beyond approximate location)

We do not use third-party advertising cookies, social media trackers, or cross-site retargeting pixels.

7. Your rights and choices

You have the following choices about the information you share with us:

• Access and correction — you can review and update your registration information from your volunteer dashboard at any time
• Account deletion — you can request deletion of your account by emailing the ministry. We will remove your account and any active matches will be ended gracefully on both sides
• Email opt-out — you can unsubscribe from non-essential emails at any time. Transactional emails (about your active matches) will continue while your account is active
• End a correspondence — you can end any correspondence at any time by reaching out to the ministry directly

If you live in a jurisdiction with additional privacy rights (such as the EU, UK, or California), please contact us and we'll do our best to accommodate any requests in good faith. Because the ministry is small and based in the United States, we are not currently registered as a controller under the GDPR.

8. Children's privacy

Jeff's Second Family is intended for adults age 18 or older. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has registered as a volunteer, please contact us and we will close the account and delete the associated information.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time as the ministry grows or as the law changes. When we make material changes, we will update the effective date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, send registered volunteers an email notification.

10. How to contact us

For any questions about this Privacy Policy, your information, or to make any of the requests described above, contact:

Richard Holley, Director
Jeff's Second Family Prison Pen-Pal Ministry
c/o Food For Children, Inc.
70-22 165th Street
Flushing, NY 11365
rholley58@aol.com