Terms and Conditions

Effective as of May 20, 2019

The Site is designed to help pair compatible volunteers (“Volunteer Service Providers”) with elderly and/or disabled persons in need of companionship and/or certain limited services (“Service Recipients”).  It also allows individuals and organizations (“Donors”) to make donations to UCC, which donations will be used to fund UCC’s ongoing operations.     

The following terms and conditions (“Terms”) govern your use of this Site.  The Terms also include (i) UCC’s Privacy Statement, (ii) our Service Recipient Safety Protocols published on the Site, (iii) our Volunteer Service Provider Safety Protocols published on the Site and (iv) additional terms (if any) disclosed and agreed to by you if you become a Volunteer Service Provider, Service Recipient, and/or Donor. 

Please read these terms carefully, as they constitute a legal agreement between you and UCC. 

By accessing, viewing, or using the content, material, or services available on or through this Site, you indicate that you have read and understand these Terms, that you agree to them and intend to be legally bound by them. If you do not agree to these Terms, if you are under 15 years of age, or if you are between the ages of 15 and 18 and are not being supervised by a legal guardian when you use the Site, you are not granted permission to use this Site and must exit immediately.

You should print or save a copy of this Agreement for your records. 

1.         The Services.   The services available on the Site (the “Services”) are limited to the registration of Volunteer Service Providers and Service Recipients and the provision of a platform through which Volunteer Service Providers may connect with Service Recipients. Neither Volunteer Service Providers nor Service Recipients are employees or independent contractors of, or in any way affiliated with UCC. The Services, accordingly, do not include the provision of any services by or through Volunteer Service Providers, including, without limitation, financial services, caregiver services, medical treatment services or transportation services.   

2.         Eligibility.  You must be at least 18 years of age or between the ages of 15 and 18 and supervised by a legal guardian to access and use the Services.  Any use of the Services is void where prohibited.  By accessing and using the Site, you represent and warrant that you have the right, authority and capacity to enter into and agree to these Terms and to abide by the Terms. If you register to become a Volunteer Service Provider or Service Recipient, you represent and warrant that you have never been convicted of or pled no contest to a felony, a sex crime, or any crime involving violence, and that you are not required to register as a sex offender with any government entity (within or outside of the United States).  In addition, in order to become a Volunteer Service Provider or Service Recipient, you will be required to pass a criminal background check. Using the Service may be prohibited or restricted in certain countries. If you use the Service from outside of the United States, you are responsible for complying with the laws and regulations of the territory from which you access or use the Site or Service. 

3.         Term and Termination.  

a.      This Agreement will remain in full force and effect while you use the Services and/or access the Site. 

b.     UCC may terminate or suspend your use of the Services at any time without notice if UCC believes that you have breached the Terms, including by using the Site and Services for non-personal use, engaging in prohibited or inappropriate communications or activities, and any breach of your representations and warranties. UCC will not be required to disclose, and may be prohibited by law from disclosing, the reason for the termination or suspension of your account.

4.         Non-commercial Use by Members.  The Site and Services are for personal use only.  You may not use the Services in connection with any commercial endeavors, such as (i) advertising or soliciting any user to buy or sell any products or services not offered by UCC, (ii) soliciting others to attend parties or other social functions, or networking, for commercial purposes, (iii) attempting to solicit or raise money for any purpose, or (iv) attempting to solicit users to visit a third-party site. Users of the Site may not use any information obtained from the Service to contact, advertise to, solicit, or sell to any other user without his or her prior explicit consent.  In general organizations, companies, and/or businesses (each a “Business,” and collectively, “Businesses”) may not use the Services or the Site for any purpose, provided that a Business may register as Volunteer Service Providers and use the Site to connect with registered Service Recipients as long as it provides all applicable information for the individuals within the Business who will interact with and furnish services to Service Recipients. Businesses may also use the Site to make donations to UCC.  UCC may investigate and take any available legal action in response to illegal and/or unauthorized uses of the Site, including collecting usernames and/or email addresses of users by electronic or other means.  

5.         Account Security.  You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the username and password you designate during the registration process, and you are solely responsible for all activities that occur under your username and password. You agree to immediately notify UCC of any disclosure or unauthorized use of your username or password or any other breach of security and ensure that you log out from your account at the end of each session. 

6.         Your Interactions with Other Users.

a.  YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER USERS. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT ALTHOUGH UCC MAY CONDUCT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS ON VOLUNTEER SERVICE PROVIDERS AND SERVICE RECIPIENTS, IT MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY AS TO THE PERFORMANCE OF A BACKGROUND CHECK IN ALL CASES, OR IN THE CASES WHERE ONE IS PERFORMED, AS TO THE ACCURACY OF THE RESULTS OF SUCH BACKGROUND CHECKS, WHICH COULD BE AFFECTED BY, AMONG OTHER THINGS, A USER GIVING INACCURATE INFORMATION TO UCC. UCC, MOREOVER, MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE CONDUCT OR CHARACTER OF VOLUNTEER SERVICE PROVIDERS OR SERVICE RECIPIENTS OR THEIR COMPATIBILITY WITH ANY CURRENT OR FUTURE USERS.  UCC IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTIONS OF ITS USERS OR YOUR INTERACTIONS WITH THEM.  BE CAREFUL AND BE SURE TO READ AND FOLLOW OUR VOLUNTEER SERVICE PROVIDER PROTOCOLS AND SERVICE RECIPIENT PROTOCOLS.  

b.     UCC is not responsible for the conduct of any Volunteer Service Provider or Service Recipient. As noted in and without limiting other sections in these Terms, in no event shall UCC, its affiliates or its partners be liable (directly or indirectly) for any losses or damages whatsoever, whether direct, indirect, general, special, compensatory, consequential, and/or incidental, arising out of or relating to the conduct of you or anyone else in connection with the use of the Site or Services including, without limitation, death, bodily injury, emotional distress, and/or any other damages resulting from communications or meetings with Volunteer Service Providers or Service Recipients or other persons you meet through the Services. You agree to take all necessary precautions in all interactions with Volunteer Service Providers and Service Recipients, particularly if you decide to communicate off the Site or meet in person.  In addition, you agree to review and follow, as applicable, UCC’s Volunteer Service Provider Protocols and Service Recipient Protocols, located on the Site, prior to using the Services. You understand that UCC makes no guarantees, either express or implied, regarding your ultimate compatibility with individuals you meet through the Service. You should not provide your financial information (for example, your credit card or bank account information), or wire or otherwise send money, to Volunteer Service Providers or Service Recipients. 

c.     The Internal Revenue Service recognizes UCC as a Section 501(c)(3) organization.  UCC’s Federal Tax ID Number is 83-3706688.  Certain contributions made to UCC may be eligible for tax deduction in the United States; however, UCC makes no representation or warranty as to the tax deductibility of such contributions.  Please consult your tax advisor for eligibility. 

7.         Informational Purposes Only.  The information on this Site, including the Volunteer Service Provider Protocols and Service Recipient Protocols, is for informational purposes only. Without limiting anything else in these Terms or otherwise, UCC is not responsible for any errors or omissions in the Site or Site Materials (as defined below).

9.         Proprietary Rights.  As between you and UCC, UCC owns or licenses all data, content, graphics, forms, artwork, images, photographs, functional components and any software concepts and documentation and other material on, in or made available through the Site (“Site Materials”), as well as the selection, coordination, arrangement, and organization and enhancement of the Site Materials.All Site Materials are protected pursuant to trademark and other applicable laws.  Where applicable, you agree not to remove or alter any copyright notice or any other proprietary notice on any Site Materials. As between any user and UCC, all names, trademarks, service marks, certification marks, symbols, slogans or logos appearing on the Site are proprietary to UCC or its affiliates, licensors, or suppliers. Use or misuse of these trademarks is expressly prohibited and may violate federal and state trademark law. Under no circumstances will you have any rights of any kind in or to the Site Materials, other than the right to use the Site Materials in accordance with these Terms.

10.       Unauthorized Activities.  UCC reserves the right to investigate and/or terminate your access to the Services if you have misused the Services or behaved in a way UCC regards in its sole and absolute discretion as inappropriate or unlawful, including actions or communications that occur off the Site. The following is a partial list of the type of actions, but is in no way comprehensive, that you may not engage in with respect to the Services. You may not: 

–        impersonate any person or entity, or misrepresent facts about any person or entity;  

–        solicit money, goods, or other property from any Volunteer Service Provider or Service Recipient; 

–        post any User Content (as defined below) or act in any manner that is prohibited by Section 11;

–       “stalk”, abuse, use profanity, send sexually oriented communication, threaten, intimidate, act in a rude, vulgar, sexist, or        derogatory manner, defame, insult, make racially offensive statements, publish illegal material, or otherwise harass any        person; 

–       express or imply that any statements you make are endorsed by UCC without our specific prior written consent; 

–       ask or use Volunteer Service Providers or Service Recipients to conceal the identity, source, or destination of any illegally    gained money or products;

–      use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other manual or automatic device or process to retrieve, index,       “data mine”, or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of the Site or Services or        either of their contents;  

–      collect usernames and/or email addresses of users by electronic or other means for the purpose of sending unsolicited email or unauthorized framing of or linking to the Site;  

–        interfere with or disrupt the Services or the Site or the servers or networks connected to the Services or the Site;  

–        email or otherwise transmit any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt,          destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment; 

–        forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any information transmitted to or through the Site or                Services (either directly or indirectly through use of third party software);  

–        “frame” or “mirror” any part of the Services or the Site, without UCC’s prior written authorization.

11.       Materials Submitted to the Site.  Certain features of the Site may allow you to contribute comments, feedback, information, content, text, files, graphics, postings, and other materials and information for access, use, viewing and commentary by other users to the Site (“User Content”). By posting User Content, you represent that you have the full legal right to provide the User Content and that use of the User Content by the Site and all other persons and entities will not (a) infringe any intellectual property rights of any person or entity or any rights of publicity, personality, or privacy of any person or entity, including as a result of your failure to obtain consent to post personally identifying or otherwise private information about a person; (b) violate any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or agreement; or (c) constitute disclosure of any confidential information owned by any third party. Upon your submission of User Content or other material or information to UCC, you grant UCC a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, license to access, use, distribute, reproduce, display, modify, create derivative works based upon, and sublicense, the User Content, all without any compensation to you whatsoever. If you believe that any content or postings on the Site violate your intellectual property or other rights, please follow our Complaint Procedure specified below.

You are solely responsible for the content and information that you post on the Site or transmit to other users, including emails, videos (including streaming videos), photographs, voice notes, recordings or profile text, whether publicly posted or privately transmitted. You may not post on the Site or as part of the Services, or transmit to UCC or any other user (either on or off the Site), any offensive, inaccurate, abusive, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, intimidating, harassing, rude, vulgar, derogatory, sexist, defamatory, insulting, racially offensive, or illegal material, or any material that infringes or violates another person’s rights (including intellectual property rights, and rights of privacy and publicity). You represent and warrant that all information that you submit upon registration is accurate and truthful and that you will promptly update any information provided by you that subsequently becomes inaccurate, misleading or false. 

You understand and agree that UCC may, but is not obligated to, monitor or review any User Content you post on the Site or as part of the Services.  UCC may delete any User Content, in whole or in part, that in the sole judgment of UCC violates the Terms or may harm the reputation of the Site or UCC. UCC may restrict the number of emails which a user may send to other users in any 24-hour period to a number which we deem appropriate in our sole discretion.

In addition to the types of content described above, the following is a partial list of the kind of content that is prohibited on the Site or as part of the Services. You may not post, upload, display or otherwise make available content (either on or off the Site) that, UCC determines, in its sole discretion:

–        constitutes or promotes racism, bigotry, hatred or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual; 

–        constitutes or advocates for harassment or intimidation of another person;

–        requests money from, or is intended to otherwise defraud, other users of the Site or Services;

–      involves the transmission of “junk mail”, “chain letters,” or unsolicited mass mailing or “spamming” (or “spimming”,         “phishing”, “trolling” or similar activities); 

–    promotes information that is false or misleading, or promotes illegal activities or conduct that is defamatory, libelous or otherwise objectionable; 

–   promotes an illegal or unauthorized copy of another person’s copyrighted work, such as providing pirated computer programs or links to them, providing information to circumvent manufacturer-installed copy-protect devices, or providing pirated images, audio or video, or links to pirated images, audio or video files; 

–     contains video, audio photographs, or images of another person without his or her permission (or in the case of a minor, the minor’s legal guardian); 

–    contains restricted or password only access pages, or hidden pages or images (those not linked to or from another accessible page); 

–   provides material that exploits people in a sexual, violent or other illegal manner, or solicits personal information from anyone under the age of    18;

–   provides instructional information about illegal activities such as making or buying illegal weapons or drugs, violating someone’s privacy, or       providing, disseminating or creating computer viruses; 

–   contains viruses, time bombs, trojan horses, cancelbots, worms or other harmful, or disruptive codes, components or devices; 

–     impersonates, or otherwise misrepresents affiliation, connection or association with, any person or entity; 

–   provides information or data you do not have a right to make available under law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships (such as inside     information, proprietary and confidential information); 

–    solicits passwords or personal identifying information for commercial or unlawful purposes from other users or disseminates another person’s personal information without his or her permission; and 

–    publicizes or promotes commercial activities and/or sales without our prior written consent such as contests, sweepstakes, barter, advertising, and pyramid schemes. 

UCC reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to investigate and take appropriate legal action against anyone who violates this provision, including removing the offending communication from the Site or Services and terminating or suspending the access of such violators.  

Your use of the Site and Services, including all content you post through the Site, must comply with all applicable laws and regulations. You agree that UCC may access, preserve and disclose your account information and content if required to do so by law or in a good faith belief that such access, preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary, such as to: (i) comply with legal process; (ii) enforce these Terms; (iii) respond to claims that any content violates the rights of third parties; (iv) respond to your requests for customer service or allow you to use the Site in the future; or (v) protect the rights, property or personal safety of UCC or any other person. 

You may not post any telephone numbers, street addresses, last names, URLs or email addresses in areas of your profile that may be viewed by other users. You agree that any content you place on the Site to be viewed by other users may be viewed by any person visiting the Site or participating in the Services. 

12.       Third Party Web Sites and Content.  The Site is available for informational purposes only. The Site may contain links to other Internet Web sites for the convenience of users in locating information, products, or services that may be of interest. Use of such third-party links, the Site and the Site Materials and any other material or content on and made available through the Site is entirely at your own risk. UCC does not recommend and expressly disclaims any responsibility for the content, the accuracy of the information, or quality of products or services provided by or advertised on third party sites or the transactions you conduct or enter into with third parties. Your use of any third party’s website is at your own risk, and subject to the terms and conditions of such other websites.  UCC does not endorse any product, service, or treatment provided on a third-party website or advertised or provided on the Site. 

13.       Privacy Policy.  Any personal information that you provide to UCC on the Site is subject to our Privacy Policy. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy published on the Site, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference, as if set forth fully herein. Please be advised that the confidentiality of any communication or material transmitted to UCC via the Site or Internet electronic mail cannot be guaranteed, including, for example, personal information such as your address or name.

14.       Disclaimer.   You acknowledge and agree that neither UCC nor its affiliates is responsible for and shall not have any liability, directly or indirectly, for any loss or damage, including personal injury or death, as a result of or alleged to be the result of (i) any incorrect or inaccurate content posted on the Site or provided in connection with the Services, whether caused by users or any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Site or Services; (ii) the timeliness, deletion or removal, incorrect delivery or failure to store any content, communications or personalization settings; (iii) the conduct, whether online or offline, of any user, including as Volunteer Service Provider or Service Recipient; (iv) any error, omission or defect in, interruption, deletion, alteration, delay in operation or transmission, theft or destruction of, or unauthorized access to, any user communications; or (v) any problems, failure or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of email or players on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website or combination thereof, including injury or damage to users or to any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participating or downloading materials in connection with the Internet and/or in connection with the Site or Services. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW, UCC PROVIDES THE SITE AND THE SERVICES ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS AND GRANTS NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICES OR THE SITE (INCLUDING ALL CONTENT CONTAINED THEREIN), INCLUDING (WITHOUT LIMITATION) ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.  UCC DOES NOT REPRESENT OR WARRANT THAT THE SITE OR SERVICES WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE, SECURE OR THAT ANY DEFECTS OR ERRORS ON THE SITE OR IN THE SERVICES WILL BE CORRECTED. 

ANY MATERIAL DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF THE SERVICES OR SITE IS ACCESSED AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK, AND YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR AND HEREBY WAIVE ANY AND ALL CLAIMS AND CAUSES OF ACTION WITH RESPECT TO ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM, INTERNET ACCESS, DOWNLOAD OR DISPLAY DEVICE, OR LOSS OR CORRUPTION OF DATA THAT RESULTS OR MAY RESULT FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH MATERIAL. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY, YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO DOWNLOAD OR OBTAIN ANY MATERIAL THROUGH THE SERVICES OR SITE. 

From time to time, UCC may make third party opinions, advice, statements, offers, or other third-party information or content available on the Site and/or through the Services.  All third-party content is the responsibility of the respective authors thereof and should not necessarily be relied upon. Such third-party authors are solely responsible for such content. UCC DOES NOT: (I) GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR USEFULNESS OF ANY THIRD PARTY CONTENT ON THE SITE OR PROVIDED THROUGH THE SERVICES, OR (II) ADOPT, ENDORSE OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY OPINION, ADVICE, OR STATEMENT MADE BY ANY PARTY THAT APPEARS ON THE SITE OR SERVICES.  UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL UCC OR ITS AFFILIATES BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE RESULTING FROM YOUR RELIANCE ON INFORMATION OR OTHER CONTENT POSTED ON THE SITE OR SERVICES, OR TRANSMITTED TO OR BY ANY USERS OF THE SITE OR SERVICES.