The United States Postal Service’s Operation Santa program celebrates its 108th year in 2020 by opening nationwide participation.
The Postal Service established the USPS Operation Santa program to help those in need at the holidays experience the joy of opening presents and to create special holiday memories. The purpose is to help as many deserving families as possible.
To participate in the USPS Operation Santa program as a possible recipient of holiday gifts, individuals can write a letter, put it in a stamped envelope with a return address, and send it to Santa’s official workshop address at Santa Claus, 123 Elf Road, North Pole, 88888. Letters will be accepted until Dec. 15. All the information kids might need to write a letter, address an envelope, put on a stamp and send it on its way can be found on USPSOperationSanta.com.
Hundreds of thousands of letters are written to the USPS Operation Santa program every year in hopes of being adopted by people across the country. These letters are opened by Santa’s Elves and, for safety reasons, all personally identifiable information of the letter writer is removed (i.e. last names, addresses, ZIP Codes) and uploaded to USPSOperationSanta.com for adoption.
Beginning Dec. 4, letters will be available for nationwide adoption. Potential adopters can read the letters and pick one, or more, that they’d like to fulfill. Companies also help adopt letters. For security reasons, potential adopters must be vetted by going through a short registration and ID verification process before they can adopt any letter.
While the Postal Service began receiving letters to Santa more than 108 years ago, it wasn’t until 1912 that Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local Postmasters to allow postal employees and citizens to respond to them. This became known as Operation Santa.
