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Red Sled Santa Foundation
Each year, hundreds of thousands of letters sent to Santa from children and families arrive at Post Offices around the country. Most letters ask for toys and games. Some ask for basic necessities. Some ask for help for themselves and their loved ones.
USPS Operation Santa made it possible for Red Sled Santa Foundation to adopt these letters and send responses and thoughtful gifts.
When Santa needs help,
people like you answer the call.
#USPSOperationSanta
Help answer sad letters to Santa written by children who need a brighter Christmas
You can adopt real letters to Santa written by underprivileged kids and send your gifts directly to the children who wrote to him. There’s no middle man or charity; it’s micro-philanthropy, direct from you to a child when you give in this way.
Every December since 1912, the US Postal Service ® has permitted the public to read and adopt children’s letters to Santa. Many are written by kids and Moms who ask only for “a warm coat for my daughter,” “new shoes, size 6,” or other basic necessities. Volunteers at Christmas may mail their gifts directly to the child or family who needs a brighter Christmas.
On December 4, 2020, the USPS ® launched a new website making the letters to Santa available for adoption from anywhere in the US. After selecting letters for posting at the site, the elves at the USPS send every letter on to Santa so he can deliver his gifts on Christmas, too.
Red Sled Santa Foundation adopts letters from families, but only through the USPS ® website. The number of letters we adopt increases as we receive donations from the public. To be clear, we do not adopt emails sent using the contact form at this site; if you are a family seeking gifts, please see our contact us page.
Every year we do adopt letters through the USPS website. Many ask for new shoes, clothes, and other basic needs. They are often written by sad parents who explain they are struggling financially and that their children are too young to write.
Depending on how much we raise, the Red Sled foundations goal is to send each mom a gift card for $100. Our donors get a tax deduction, and we have faith that the Moms know best what their kids most want and need. We tuck the gift card into a Christmas card with a note saying simply, “This is for your kids. Love, Santa.”
Gifts may be made to Red Sled Santa Foundation using our Amazon Wish page, also at the top left of this page. Our mailing address appears on that page in case you prefer to give by check, Or have a gift sent directly to us to process. Your tax-deductible gift to Red Sled Santa will help us send more gifts to low-income families in time for Christmas.
You can help by adopting your own letter at the new USPS website, USPSoperationsanta.com or you can Donate Now to Red Sled foundation.org, Gifts are tax-deductible. Either way, you’ll catch the true spirit of the holidays and help put smiles on the faces of needy kids on Christmas morning.
Thanks for being Santa s helper Please share this website on your social media.
Notes
Before 2020, two postal branches in New York City and Chicago still offered the traditional walk-in program, in which the public could read letters in person at the two branches. The USPS welcomed walk-ins from 1912 to 2019, but in 2020 the walk-in program was canceled due to Covid 19. The good news was that the Postal Service launched its new online program in 2020, expanding it to millions of Americans. In the year of Covid, the public could safely adopt letters to Santa from home, and volunteers adopted tens of thousands of the neediest letters.
In 2008, to help protect the privacy of children, the postal service began removing their family names and addresses from their letters to Santa. USPS staff replaced them with a numbered code, and asked volunteers to write the code on packages of gifts they mailed to the child or parent who wrote each letter. After volunteers mailed each package, USPS staff matched the corresponding address to the package, so that it would be sent directly to the family who wrote that letter to Santa. Today only postal workers are permitted to deliver gifts from volunteers to children’s homes, but the smiles on Christmas morning remain the same.
As donations come into our group, it empowers us to adopt more letters ourselves, and recruit new volunteers for the Operation Santa program. They will in turn answer more children’s letters, with the end result that many additional needy children will be smiling on Christmas morning. Donations by the public fuel Red Sled Santa’s mission!
To achieve our goals, we are now seeking private donors and corporate sponsors.
Examples of letters to Santa from past years
Below are samples of letters to Santa that RSSF has adopted in the past. They may not be adopted again, but you may adopt current letters through the wonderful USPS website, USPSoperationsanta.com, starting around Thanksgiving every year. In the meantime, the examples below will give you an idea of what to look for.
Red Sled Santa is hoping to adopt lots of letters to Santa this year from the USPS website. Our goal is to send a $100 Target Gift Card to the Mom of each needy family; we’ll enclose a card that says, simply, “For your kids. Love, Santa.” We let the Moms do the Christmas shopping. Gifts to Red Sled Santa are tax-deductible.
Of course, children’s last names and addresses have been removed by the USPS staff to protect the children’s privacy.
