NYC Post Office Customers Help 'Operation Santa'

NEW YORK CITY — New York City is one of 15 U.S. cities participating in Operation Santa, enabling residents to respond to children's letters to the North Pole with gifts sent on the jolly old elf's behalf.

The program dates back more than 100 years to when the postal service — then called the Post Office Department — began receiving letters to Santa Claus. In 1912, Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local postmasters to allow employees and citizens to respond to the letters — a program that eventually became known as Operation Santa.

In the 1940s, mail volume for Santa increased so much that the postal service invited charitable organizations and corporations to participate by providing written responses and small gifts.

"Through the years, the program grew and took on a life of its own," officials said on the Operation Santa website. "Today, customers can go online to browse through the letters and if one touches them, they can adopt it and help the child have a magical holiday."

Frequently asked questions

What is the program’s mission?

The mission of USPS Operation Santa is to provide a channel where people can give back and help children and families — enabling them to have a magical holiday when they otherwise might not — one letter to Santa at a time.

Purpose

In many Postal Service facilities around the country, postal employees respond to the letters with a handwritten response signed by Santa, while other offices might purchase gifts for the children. This year, letters sent to Santa from the 15 cities below will be included on the USPSOperationSanta.com website.

• Austin, Texas
• Baltimore
• Boston
• Chicago
• Cleveland
• Denver
• Grand Rapids
• Los Angeles
• New York
• Orlando, Florida
• Philadelphia
• Phoenix
• Sacramento, California
• San Juan, Puerto Rico
• Washington, D.C.

How to adopt a letter

Customers choosing to adopt in person will be required to fill out a form and show valid state or federal ID. Customers choosing to adopt online will be required to go through a short registration and ID verification process.

In-person process

After completing the forms, customers can read and adopt a letter — or letters. To protect the anonymity of the letter writers, all personal information is redacted — no last names, addresses or contact information of any kind are visible.

The customer leaves to fulfill the wish in the letter and returns with the letter to ship the package. The code on the letter links to the letter writer’s address.

Customers are responsible for paying the postage to mail the gift to the letter writer.
Once the customer pays the postage, the retail associate will match the box with the letter writer by using the code.

For more information, click here. For details on how to get started, click here. To adopt a letter, click here.

Reported by Tony Cantu/Patch