WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — The U.S. Postal Service once again is seeking elves for Operation Santa.
Letters to Santa are answered and gift requests even are fulfilled under the program, with registration announced earlier this month by the USPS.
Letters to Santa, 123 Elf Road, North Pole, 88888, have been accumulating for months, with a Dec. 11 deadline, according to the postal service.
The deadline for those wishing to adopt a letter and respond is Dec. 18. More information is available at www.uspsoperationsanta.com.
The letters are carefully reviewed, scanned and posted on the Operation Santa site, with personal information removed.
Generous people can then adopt the letters and find just the right gifts to help Santa fulfill letter-writers’ wishes. The gifts are shipped and delivered to the letter writers on behalf of the North Pole.
“For families struggling to make ends meet, providing a nice holiday celebration can be daunting,” the USPS said. “Even figuring out how to have a good dinner can cause undue stress. But the Postal Service and Santa are here to help.
“The USPS Operation Santa program provides families who may be facing financial hardships with a little extra help during the holiday season.
“Since the program began 109 years ago, good-hearted people have helped hundreds of thousands of children and their families by fulfilling holiday wishes.
“You don’t have to be religious or even believe in Santa to participate.”
Anyone wanting to adopt a letter can visit USPSOperationSanta.com, click on the registration link and follow the prompts, according to the USPS. For security reasons, all prospective adopters must be vetted through a short registration and ID verification process before they can participate.
Beginning Nov. 29, approved letter adopters can then re-visit USPSOperationSanta.com, read through the posted letters and choose one or more they’d like to fulfill.
Once the letters are chosen, adopters must follow the directions they received in their welcome email in order to fulfill the holiday wishes. Businesses and other organizations can also get into the spirit of the season by creating teams to adopt letters. Everyone participating on a team must also go through the verification process.
