The United States Postal Service (USPS) has officially kicked off its 2021 “Operation Santa” drive, aimed at providing Christmas for children across the nation by letting people adopt letters from children to Santa.
According to a press release by USPS, the postal service has been collecting letters written by children across the nation and addressed to Santa at 123 Elf Road. Now, the letters are ready to be fulfilled by those who choose to adopt letters.
Those wanting to adopt a letter can go to USPSOperationSanta.com and follow the registration prompts to register. Registered adopters can then read through the letters on the website and pick one or more wishes they want to help make true.
Once the letters are chosen, adopters will follow the directions in their welcome email to make sure the gifts arrive on time. Letter adopters are responsible for all costs to purchase and ship the gifts. Letters can be adopted through Dec. 22, and packages can be shipped until Jan. 14. New letters will be posted to the website as they are received.
"Letters will be posted to the website twice a day,” the release said. “New for this year is a countdown clock so participants will know when new letters will be posted and available for selection.”
According to the release, USPS Operation Santa has helped hundreds of thousands of people for over a century.
“USPS Operation Santa was established by the Postal Service 109 years ago to help those in need experience a happy holiday season,” the release said. “You don’t have to be religious or even believe in Santa to participate.”
To write a letter to Santa and participate in the program, all you have to do is write a letter, put it in a stamped envelope with your full return address on it, and send it to Santa’s official workshop address: Santa Claus, 123 Elf Road, North Pole, 88888. Make sure that you include your full return address in both the letter and on the envelope.
What is asked for in each letter is up to the letter-writer, but the release added that the more specific the writer is with sizes, colors, styles, favorite authors, book titles, toys and so on, the better chance there is that their wishes will be granted if their letter is adopted.
In order to be eligible for adoption, all letters must be postmarked by Dec. 10 and must include full return addresses and names. There is no guarantee that all letters submitted will be adopted, but each letter received in the program will be uploaded to the website, the release said.
“When someone writes a letter, it is opened by ‘Santa’s Elves’, and for safety reasons, all personally identifiable information of the letter writer is removed (such as last name, address, ZIP code) and uploaded for adoption,” the release said.
For more information on Operation Santa including history, how to write a letter and how to adopt one, go to the USPS Holiday Newsroom at https://about.usps.com/holidaynews/.