AUSTIN, Texas – A 106-year-old program is moving to a digital platform to post children’s letters to Santa online and allow people to help make their holidays brighter.
- Online Operation Santa posts letters from children
- People can respond to letters and grant wishes
- Program expanding to Austin
The United State Postal Service is expanding its Operation Santa program across the country, including Austin. Austinites will be able to read letters written to Santa online and respond.
The program began in 1912 to allow postal workers to reply to the growing number of letters to Santa Claus every year. By the 1940s the volume of mail for Santa increased exponentially extending the invitation for responses to charities and organizations.
Now anyone can volunteer to respond to the letters and even grant a wish if they choose to buy something off of the list. The program begins in Austin on December 3.
There are strict privacy guidelines to keep the children’s identity safe. To qualify for the program, people must go to a post office with valid a photo identification and fill out a form. All of the child’s information will be redacted from the letter.
Once the person has written a response or purchased a present, he or she can return to the post office for it to be delivered.
“The Postal Service is extremely proud of this program. More than 100 years ago, employees from coast to coast began responding to letters to Santa that were received in the U.S. Mail,” said Leroy Middleton, Jr., Officer in Charge for the Austin Post Office. “That employee-led grassroots program evolved into an annual tradition in communities around the country. And as technology has evolved, we are excited to offer Operation Santa online to customers in this area.”
The pilot Operation Santa program began in 2017 in New York, expanded to Indianapolis, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Diego Washington D.C., and now Austin.