USPS' Operation Santa: Will You Be a Secret Santa for a Child in Need?

How it Works

• The United States Postal Service (USPS) is once again getting in the holiday spirit with its Operation Santa campaign, which matches letters from kids with strangers willing to gift random acts of kindness.

• When letters are written to Santa, they get delivered to USPS where personal or identifying information is redacted. The letters are then available for "adoption" by big-hearted people who send the requested gifts to the USPS. The postal service then distributes the gift to the letter writer.
• USPS receives over 10,000 letters per year. Letter adoption begins on November 28th and ends on December 21st. 
• Full details of the program, and how to participate, are listed in USPS’s Operation Santa FAQ section. 

Santa's Start

• What we now call Operation Santa began in 1912 when Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock allowed employees and citizens to respond to letters addressed to Santa.
• The digital iteration of the program was launched in 2017 and went nationwide in 2020.
• USPS:

“The goal for the future is, and has always been, to help more children and families in need have a happy holiday when they otherwise may not — one letter to Santa at a time.”

—Emma Kansiz

 (Photo credit: IStock/FatCamera)