OAKLAND — No one gets more mail than Santa Claus. Just ask the children who will flock to Jack London Square on Friday, Dec. 4, 2015, to pen their personal missives to him during the U.S. Postal Service’s annual “Letters to Santa” event between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
The “Letters to Santa” program by the Postal Service will deliver the hand-crafted letters of children to Santa’s official mailbox in Oakland. The Postal Service and Jack London Square join again as in seasons past to bring joy to children, including the Tree Lighting Celebration at 7:00 p.m. A special area will be set up for children to write their letters, and a team of Postal Service elves will be on hand to assist them, including helping them decorate their personal letters before mailing.
For more than 100 years, children in the United States have written letters to Santa Claus and relied on the Post Office to deliver them. In 1912, Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local Postmasters to allow individuals and institutions to use letters addressed to Santa Claus for philanthropic purposes. It all began in New York City when U.S. Post Office Department employees began responding to the letters through a program that came to be known locally as “Operation Santa.” Today, the popular program is known nationwide as “Letters to Santa.”
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