You can answer a ‘Letter to Santa’
You can help out a single child or a family in need through Operation Santa.
You don’t have to have a rednosed reindeer to play Santa this holiday season.
The U.S. Postal Service has expanded its online Operation Santa program.
Anyone in the country can grant a child’s holiday gift wish to Santa as part of an expanded USPSOperationSanta.com, which rolled out Monday, Nov. 18.
“The program was established by the Postal Service to help families and children have a magical holiday when they otherwise might not,” a press release reads.
Changes to the 107-year-old program include a new website, expansion of last year’s digital program and a new official mailing address for Santa:
Santa Claus
123 Elf Road
North Pole, 88888
Groups or individuals will be able to adopt letters to Santa online, but the “adopter” must go to a Post Office that offers “Label
Broker” as an on-site service to send the gift.
Label Broker Post Office locations can be found on usps.com/ locator.
There is an option to adopt a single child or an entire family.
The website will contain letters from 15 cities: Austin, Texas; Chicago, Grand Rapids, Mich.; Orlando, Fla.; Sacramento, Calif.; Baltimore; Cleveland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Boston; Denver; New York; Phoenix and Washington.
The cities were selected based on several reasons, including interest in the program, community need and a mix of geographic locations, the press release says.
Letters from California will include those written by children and families impacted by recent wildfires, a message on USPSOperationSanta.com says.
Then-Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local postmasters to allow postal employees and citizens to respond to the letters in 1912.