Santa called and he needs your help

Every year, kids flood the postal service with letters to Santa sent straight to the North Pole. It’s a hard job to respond to them all, especially after Saturday. So he’s calling on all of his Bay Area elves to lend a hand.

Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., the U.S. Postal Service in San Francisco is gathering all elves together at the main postal facility at 1300 Evans Street in San Francisco to help with their annual Letters to Santa campaign. If you want to help answer the holiday wishes of kids in need, this is a great way to do it.

Postal employees try to answer as many letters as possible. But between sorting mail and getting bit by your neighbor’s dog, they don’t have enough time to get to all of them. The Letters to Santa has been around for roughly 100 years, so we can’t drop the ball now.

San Francisco postal spokesman James Wigdel explained that volunteers pick out a letter to reply to on behalf of Mr. Claus, but no personal information on the child is released except their first name, age, and what they want from Santa.

While there are plenty of requests for Legos and BB guns, many wish lists come from needy children requesting simple things like food and clothing. Volunteers who respond to the letters also have the opportunity to donate things like toys or gift certificates to the kids.

Wigdel told KCBS:

“Last year we had about 600 letters come through the system. We got about 400 answered, so that was pretty good.”

If you want to help with the Letters to Santa program, head to the San Francisco main post office today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1300 Evans Avenue, San Francisco. You can call 415-550-5001 for more information.