Be A Child's Santa: Northeast Ohioans Can Answer Holiday Wishes

CLEVELAND — Cleveland is one of 15 U.S. cities participating in Operation Santa, enabling residents to respond to children's letters to the North Pole with gifts sent on the jolly old elf's behalf.

The program dates to more than 100 years ago when the Postal Service — then called the Post Office Department — began receiving letters to Santa Claus. In 1912 Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local postmasters to allow postal employees and citizens to respond to the letters — a program that eventually became known as Operation Santa.

In the 1940s, mail volume for Santa increased so much that the Postal Service invited charitable organizations and corporations to participate by providing written responses and small gifts, officials describe in their postal service website

"Through the years, the program grew and took on a life of its own," officials wrote. "Today, customers can go online to browse through the letters and if one touches them, they can adopt it and help the child have a magical holiday.

How to Get Involved

At Cleveland's Main Post Office, 2400 Orange Avenue, Northeast Ohioans can sign-up to respond to one or more letters sent to Santa. Participants will need to fill out a form and show a valid state or federal ID to participate.

After the form is completed, customers can read and adopt a letter, or letters. All personal information on the letters is redacted, so participants won't see last names, addresses or contact information. A code on the letter is used to store the writer's address in the postal service system.

Participants then leave, fulfill the wish in the letter, and return to the Cleveland Main Post Office. Participants will be responsible for the postage to mail the gift.

Only 15 cities in the U.S. participate in the Operation Santa program, including Cleveland.

• Austin, Texas
• Baltimore
• Boston
• Chicago
• Cleveland
• Denver
• Grand Rapids
• Los Angeles
• New York
• Orlando, Florida
• Philadelphia
• Phoenix
• Sacramento, California
• San Juan, Puerto Rico
• Washington, D.C.

More information on Operation Santa can be found on the postal service's website.