Thanks to AndrewnShango who came up with this idea and started the original thread.
We have agreed to run this gift exchange on Basenji Forums in the safest way possible to preserve the identity and privacy of all the participants.
The way the gift exchange will work is that you send us (giftexchange@basenjiforums.com) the following:
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Forum Member Mame
First Name, Last Name
Dog(s) Name(s)
Full Mailing address
Gift Ideas - (please include here dogs sizes, likes, dislikes,or just anything important you feel your basenji buddy should know about you and your dogs!)
Will you ship overseas?
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Once we receive all the submissions we we will draw the forum member names out of a hat and send everyone their basenji buddy. Then you send off a gift to whoever you were matched with, and wait for your fun gift to arrive from your very own basenji buddy. We will discard all the personal information sent us after every basenji buddy has been contacted.
This exchange will work solely on the honor system. There is no way that the forum moderators or anyone else on this forum can enforce that people fulfill their promises to reciprocate an exchange of gifts with another member. If people sign up and don't meet their end of the bargain, it ruins it for everyone. So please if you decide to participate make sure to fullfill your gift promise.
The rules and guidelines are:
By participating in this gift exchange you agree to our forum rules. Under no circumstances shall Basenji Forums or any of its associates be liable for any damages resulting from this gift exchange program.
So, there you go, lets get on with it and make this Gift Exchange a huge success. If you have any questions about this program please email giftexchange@basenjiforums.com.
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Update:
This round of gift exchange closed on August 29, 2008. Everyone who submitted to participate in this gift exchange, should have gotten their Basenji Buddies contact info from Basenji Forums Staff. Those members who were unable to participate, stay tuned for the next Winter Holiday Basenji Buddies Gift Exchange.
Once you receive you gift don't forget to share the experience and maybe even photos of the gifts received with the rest of Basenji Forums comunity.
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Thank you,
Sounds good! Thanks for doing this, it should be fun! It was brought up in the original thread about getting buddies overseas. Is there a way that if it is possible we can match up with people in the same country? I have never mailed something overseas before so I am not sure how bad it is,but I am afraid it will cost more than the gift to send it! I don't know if this is possible or not, just an idea…
Thanks again, this should be fun!
Jully18, thank you for the suggestion about the overseas shipping. We included that in our gift exchange description.
So far we received 8 basenji buddy submissions, please read the program description above and email the details to giftexchange@basenjiforums.com if you would like to participate.
Alex,
Is there a "cut-off" date for submitting your info? just curious. Thanks!
I am thinking to give it another couple of weeks. Some of our members visit the forum once every couple of weeks, so I wanted to give them a chance to participate.
The submissions are coming, so far we have 12 people who signed up for this program.
I really love to participate in actions like those. Do you plan to have it about Christmas? Maybe this would be a time range to look forward to?
Esther
I think this is a cool way to share dog gifts/treats from your local area. We have several dog bakeries here and other fun local places that make dog stuff. It will be fun to share some of Hampton Roads with others.
This gift exchange will have a submission deadline around end of August. If it is a success we are planning on having another one around Christmas holidays.
For your consideration….....I also agree the first exchange should be in December. Say a ship by date of Dec. 1st. This gives us plenty of time to consider our exchange buddies and their dogs, re-read some posts to get an idea of life style, food and toy preferences, sense of humor, and beat the price mark up of the Christmas season. Also, as "the giving season" nears, perhaps more forum friends will care to join.
Maybe I'm thinking too hard about this, but I'm just excited and fear I won't have adequate time to find something(s) appropriate.
Thanks admin I'm sure this may take more time and effort than you originally anticipated, but what GREAT fun you're providing.
P/S...With all the December b-day Basenji's you have here, it could turn out to be a huge GLOBAL Basenji birthday celebration:D 
I definitely agree with Snorky, I would like an xmas one as well, however I think there is plenty of time to do 2 before then…if we close submissions by the end of august, ship gifts by the end of September, then pick it up again in October or November for the holiday season..that might be good. Otherwise I am afraid if we wait so long, people will forget/not visit the site often by then/etc. If we plan that now, people who dont' want to do both could just opt to wait until the second one, just my opinion, but I will go along with whatever is decided...either way it shoudl be lots of fun...thanks again for doing this!
I forgot about the December birthday part – the postal service will have fun delivering all these basenji birthday presents
I believe we have received enough submissions for this round of Basenji Buddies gift exchange. If anyone is interested to join in please read the top post of this thread and email us your submission by August 29, 2008.
Today is the last day to join this first round of Basenji Buddies gift exchange. If anyone is interested to join in please read the top post of this thread and email us your submission by the end of today (August 29, 2008).
Over the weekend we will randomly pair up everyone who submitted their information to us and send out emails with instructions.
Have you sent out the buddy information yet? I have had a ton of junk mail lately and I wanted to make sure your e-mail did not end up in my spam folder by accident.
Thanks!
It's coming, had to sort through all the submissions myself. 
Alex,
Sorry to be antsy…but I still haven't received an email with the info...have you sent them out yet? Looking forward to the Basenji Penpal exchange!!! :-)Thanks!
Any updates on our Basenji Buddies gift exchange?
Haven't heard anything in quite a while…
We finally sorted through all the submissions and everyone should have gotten their Basenji Gift Buddy. Please let us know (giftexchange@basenjiforums.com) if you have not gotten an email from us.
Also we noticed that several members who voted on the poll did not email us their submissions in the format requested in the first post of this thread. There is still time, hurry and email us.
Those members who did receive their Basenji Gift Buddy email, please send your gift in a timely manner.
Enjoy! This is going to be a lot of fun!
Andrew,
I received my e-mail today from Admin.
