PEMBROKE PINES, FL — For the first time in South Florida history, the public will be able to fulfill the holiday wishes of needy children in the community through a Santa Letter Program sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service.
Between 9 am and 11 am on Tuesday, December 1, Santa’s postal elves will be stationed in the lobbies of the Fort Lauderdale Main Office, Miami GMF Postal Store, South Florida Retail Unit, and West Palm Beach Main Office (addresses below). Customers will be able to complete an application to select a child’s Santa letter available at a later date. They’ll also be able to sign up at these four postal locations Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm.
FORT LAUDERDALE MAIN OFFICE
1900 W OAKLAND PARK BLVD, FORT LAUDERDALE
Coordinator: Tashia Romano-Kravitz Phone: 954-527-3281
MIAMI GMF POSTAL STORE
2200 NW 72 AVE, MIAMI
Coordinator: Rose Castro Phone: 305-470-0386
SOUTH FLORIDA RETAIL UNIT
16000 PINES BLVD, PEMBROKE PINES
Coordinator: Rose Mesenger-Mannisto Phone: 954-443-6527
WEST PALM BEACH MAIN OFFICE
3200 SUMMIT BLVD, WEST PALM BEACH
Coordinator: JoAnn Goodrich Phone: 561-697-2145
To protect children and their privacy, volunteers will receive a photocopy, instead of the original letter. The photocopy will have personal information, including name and address, blackened out. Volunteers will purchase their gifts and bring them back to one of the above locations and will pay the Priority Mail postage to have items shipped to the recipient. Holiday packages must be returned to one of the designated Post Offices on or before 5 pm Wednesday, December 23.
And keeping with tradition, Santa has promised to read every child’s holiday letter. Between reading the letters and supervising toy production at the North Pole, Santa has asked his South Florida postal elves to help address the postcard that he sends to children who write him. After all, postal employees are the experts on proper addressing to ensure that the mail gets delivered to the correct destination!
(Additional information, including a list of participating Post Offices across the country, will be posted at usps.com on Monday, November 30.)
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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/news.
A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 26th in the 2008 Fortune 500.
