The United States Postal Service's Operation Santa program is officially live for the 2019 holiday season. Operation Santa launched over a hundred years ago when Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock allowed postal workers and citizens to respond to letters to Santa that came through the mail.
The program has shifted and changed over the years, and now customers can go online to look through letters and adopt one, helping a child have a happy holiday.
This year, letters sent to Santa from 15 cities, including Grand Rapids, will be on the USPS Operation Santa website. Anyone can then decide to adopt a letter and send the child gifts.
The USPS offers these steps:
- Read: Look through the letters and adopt the ones you love.
- Shop: Find a gift and keep it anonymous.
- Wrap: Pack the gifts in a box, with the postal service's shipping guidelines.
- Ship: Bring the gift and postage to a participating Post Office by Dec. 21.
The Operation Santa also works in person, and people can go to participating post offices and adopt a letter.
See more about the Operation Santa program here.
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