As the holidays approach, the United States Postal Service is gearing up for one of its most beloved programs—Operation Santa®. This week, our hosts chat with Chris Karpenko, Executive Director of Brand Marketing and Sue Brennan, Senior Public Relations Representative about the origin of the program, how it works, and its impact on communities in need.
As the holidays approach, the United States Postal Service is gearing up for one of its most beloved charitable programs—Operation Santa®. Created in 1912 to help those in need during the holidays, the program facilitates the adoption of letters to Santa to make children’s holiday wishes come true.
This week, our hosts chat with Chris Karpenko, Executive Director of Brand Marketing and Sue Brennan, Senior Public Relations Representative about the origin of this iconic social cause, how it works, and its impact on communities in need. Our guests also share ways we can all get involved to spread some cheer this holiday season.
Dale Parsan:
Hey everybody. Welcome to today's episode of “Mailin’ It,” the official podcast of the United States Postal Service. I'm your cohost Dale Parsan.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
And I’m Yasmine DiGiulio. In this episode, we'll be talking about USPS Operation Santa – a program that the Postal Service created way back in 1912, to help those in need during the holidays.
Dale Parsan:
That's right, Yasmine. Operation Santa kicked off more than a century ago when postmaster general, Frank Hitchcock authorized local postmasters to allow postal employees to open and respond to letters written to the jolly big guy at the North Pole. Operation Santa was originally an internal program open only to postal service employees, but luckily the program grew and the postal service opened it up to the public.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
That meant charitable organizations, corporations, and later the general public could choose and respond to letters sent to Santa. Since the program began, it has made it possible for people to share holiday cheer and gift giving with millions of children and their families. Last year alone, nearly 24,000 letters were adopted across the us. And more than 21,000 packages were mailed in response to those letters deal. Dale, did you write letters to Santa when you were a kid?
Dale Parsan:
You know what? I personally never wrote letters to Santa, but the holidays are a very special time for my family. Most memorable is the tradition that when we set up our Christmas tree, that we play an old holiday record on all the speakers throughout the house to get us in the Christmas spirit. What about you Yasmine?
Yasmine DiGiulio:
I definitely did. And I think I asked for a kitten, like three years in a row. I still haven't gotten one though. I really love using the mail to connect with others during the holiday season. And I'm looking forward to speaking with our guests about the Operation Santa's program. Dale who's joining us today?
Dale Parsan:
Today we'll be speaking with Chris Karpenko and Sue Brennan to learn all about Operation Santa. Chris is the Executive Director of Brand Marketing for the Postal Service and Sue is a senior Public Relations Representative at the Postal Service. Today, we'll be talking to Sue and Chris about how Operation Santa got started, how it works, the impact that's had on kids and families, how Operation Santa has changed over the years. And what's new this year. Sue, Chris, thanks for joining us.
Sue Brennan:
Thank you for having us. Thanks.
Dale Parsan:
To start things off, Sue, why don't you tell us a little bit about what you do with the postal service and your role managing the day-to-day operations of Operation Santa.
Sue Brennan:
I work in corporate communications and I handle media and public relations matters pertaining to mail processing and logistics. Regarding Operation Santa, me and my colleague Tatiana Roy handle communications issues.
Dale Parsan:
Wonderful. Thanks Sue. Chris, your turn, what do you do and how are you involved in Operation Santa?
Chris Karpenko:
Sure Dale. The team over on my end covers pretty much all the brand and the marketing efforts. So what you'll look at is for us providing media coverage or awareness for those that want to adopt letters, as well as for children that may be interested in learning how to write a letter and how to write a letter to Santa for the holidays.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
So, Chris, is there anything special about how or why Operation Santa was created in the first place? Was it just that we were noticing all of these letters coming in and we kind of wanted to do something about it?
Chris Karpenko:
So it's a great question. What I think you'd probably see is there've always been letters written to Santa for, let's say over, you know, hundreds of years in this particular case, over a hundred and some odd years the postal service was receiving letters by children written to Santa, and there wasn't anything happening to them at that time. There wasn't a mechanism to get them up to Santa. So what ended up happening is our employees decided to I guess, take it upon themselves to act like elves, if you will, and start responding and help enable Santa to get these letters and either respond or respond themselves. Sue, do you want to weigh in on any of that?
Sue Brennan:
And in the early 1900’s, the volume got to be so much that the postmaster general at that time opened it up for customers to begin adopting the letters.
Dale Parsan:
Great. So before Operation Santa came to be what happened to all those letters that were flooding in around the holidays?
Sue Brennan:
It really depended on your location. Some post offices had trays of letters where customers could come in and just take one. Some post offices had Christmas trees where they posted the letters on the Christmas trees. Some locations only had employees responding to them.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Hmm. That's pretty interesting. So if I was a kid and I wanted to write a letter to Santa, how do I get started? How do I find, you know, Santa’s address?
Sue Brennan:
Well, right now you could Google Santa’s address. And one of the first locations that would come up would be the Postal Service Operation Santa program. And 123 Elf Road, which is Santa’s workshop address.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
And Dale, do you know what the zip code is for Santa’s address at the North Pole?
Dale Parsan:
You know what? Matter of fact I do - from a previous guest. That would be 88888.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Yes. We learned that in our zip codes episode. So is there any specific information that needs to be included
Sue Brennan:
On the envelope, It needs to be addressed to that address. And there needs to be a very complete legible return address. That includes department number and street directionals, if applicable
Dale Parsan:
Sue, if someone is choosing to mail a letter, let's say a child and they're trying to do it on their own. Do they need a stamp?
Sue Brennan:
Yes. They need a stamp just so it can be processed through our system.
Dale Parsan:
So what happens after a letter of arrives at this address? At Santa's workshop. How was it, how was it handled?
Chris Karpenko:
So when all those letters arrive, we ended up looking at them, reviewing them and we redact personal information. It's the safety of the child, safety of the person writing the letter. We put that all out of it. And we process that in a way that then we can then put those letters that qualify, meaning that we've got a good address. We've got a good ability of, you know, they're not, they're not something we can't comprehend. And then we put them out and make them available to folks to potentially adopt those.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
So what do people typically ask for?
Sue Brennan:
There's a number of different requests. You have children and families asking for socks and shoes and a winter coat… Food for the holidays. And then of course you have letters asking for the hottest new toy.
Dale Parsan:
What about the letters that Yasmin's been sending for years about a kitten?
Sue Brennan:
For pets, we believe that that's something that a parent or guardian should make the ultimate decision on. And we recommend that people send a stuffed on animal in its place.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
What about kids who live in the U S but maybe they don't speak English or they're more comfortable with another language? Can they participate as well?
Sue Brennan:
Oh, yes. We currently get letters in Spanish and those letters are posted in Spanish and you can search for them on the site. We haven't gotten many other letters in other language, but I can tell you that this year we had a letter carrier just reach out to us about a little boy on his route that was born blind. And he sent his letter to Santa in braille. And I reached out to, to the group that does the redacting and ask them to flag this letter so we can respond to this child in braille.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Oh, that's great.
Chris Karpenko:
What's, what's really interesting about that is, you know, when you think about the Postal Service, we’re 246 years old, and this program is running about 109, 109 years old, and it's, what's so neat about that is it was organic in nature. It's a social cause that was always created by the people. So the Postal Service never officially created this. It's not a 5 0 1 C it's, it's not a nonprofit, it's one of those things that anyone can write a letter for anything. And in most cases, what you do see are these heartfelt sort of acts of kindness from either children or people that are asking for gloves and shoes and blankets, and it might not even be for themselves. It might be for their sisters or their brothers. So there's this opportunity to express this want or hope through a letter. And in many cases we're able to accommodate that through this Operation Santa program.
Dale Parsan:
What do you guys think the American people are drawn to participate in Operation Santa?
Sue Brennan:
People want to give back. It's a great opportunity to give back. This program depends entirely on the collective generosity of strangers. It's, it's a beautiful program in that respect.
Chris Karpenko:
And what's interesting about that, that idea around strangers, you're donating to someone you don't know, and someone who you're asking and you're receiving something from you don't know where it's coming from as well. So this idea around these random acts of kindness of the self giving and self receiving environment is really amazing. When you think about how we as an organization started out in this environment of universal service and being able to be kind, and, and this generosity that exists in humanity in all over this country.
Dale Parsan:
Chris, are, are there any specific stories that jump out to you over the years of us operating Operation Santa?
Chris Karpenko:
Well, I think Sue probably has been at it more than I have in, in regards to the, the Operation Santa program and the operations component of it. There's this idea around, it really doesn't matter who you are. If you're from urban, suburban, or rural, it doesn't matter what ethnicity, what religion you are. These, these letters cover all of it and they cover everything from, you know, socks and blankets to a trip down to New York city in a limo. And probably the one that's probably most intriguing to me in some ways is there was a little boy, a number of years ago. He was with his mom and brother and sister. He was in the bed wondering and writing a letter to Santa. And his letter was, if I remember correctly, it was, he was looking for a clock to be able to get up on time and a radio so that he could listen to music and sing with his brothers and sisters. And what ended up happening was Santa came back and gave him a clock radio. So in his mind, right, the big, big he got both, they got two for the price of one, all, all inclusive. And from there, he really had this passion around, oh my gosh, this is what, this is amazing. This is wonderful. Went off to go work in Wall Street. And then he ended up starting a nonprofit that specifically looks at bringing some type of wish or value back to kids and giving back. So it's this really wonderful way of just giving back to the organization.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Sue, do you have any memorable requests that you've come across?
Sue Brennan:
I do the, the most memorable requests that I've seen have to do with children who have suffered loss, where they're asking for a parent or sibling or grandparent, they're asking Santa to bring them back. Those are our very heartfelt, emotional requests. Also parents who request medical attention for their children. We get those, these are special requests. And in 2011, for example, a mother wrote that her daughter Shamiah had been born deaf and with only one outer ear. And she requested that a, that somebody's a plastic surgeon provide service and build her daughter an ear or so she is no longer made fun of, and that happened, a plastic surgeon in LA stepped up and performed the surgery free of charge. And this is something that is very emotional for the team working on this. We reach out to the community and we try to match the letter with a subject matter expert or for somebody who can fulfill, fulfill very special requests. And this happens usually once a year, maybe not to that extreme, but we've, we've also had last year, we had a two little boys whose mother was working three jobs. They rarely saw her and they knew that if she had a washer and dryer, she could at least stay home and do laundry and not have to leave again to go to a laundry mat. So they wrote a letter to Santa requesting a washer and dryer for their mother. Some very generous person adopted it and bought this woman a washer and dryer. And we had to contact her to tell her what her boys had done so we could schedule the delivery of these appliances. And by the time the conversation was over there, there was not a dry eye anywhere - we were all crying. It was, she was amazed that her boys had done this. She was more amazed that somebody adopted the letter and made this wish come true for her kids. And it's, these are the reasons we continue working on this program, as hard as we do
Dale Parsan:
That is absolutely incredible. Words can’t describe.
Chris Karpenko:
It's also a level of authenticity here, right? So this isn't something that was prepared or gamed or structured in any way. These are, these are random acts, as I had said earlier. And these are efforts that, that people want to help feel as if they're contributing. And again whether it's you know, getting involved in these special needs environments, or they're just as simple as getting some mittens or clubs or boots for somebody, that's a, it's a wonderful opportunity to, to demonstrate that.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Yeah, it's really inspiring. And it's really nice to kind of hear these stories of how people's lives have been impacted. And for many cases really changed for the better. So Sue, you mentioned the woman whose children asked about a washer dryer, and then we contacted her in order to sort of fulfill that. Do you find that that happens pretty often where the parents are surprised that their children are writing these letters to Santa and that someone out there wants to give them what they asked for?
Sue Brennan:
It happens a lot now, especially since last year when the program went nationwide, there were a lot of instances last year, and we've already started to see some this year where the children write letters, they Google an address, the parents Google an address where to send it. And then they realized they're part of this program. And last year, a number of parents reached out to us and said they were mortified, that they got packages delivered. Somebody answered their child's letter, fulfilled all their wishes and they have money and they were mortified that they got this package. Could they please send them back? And our response to them is to pay it forward and to perhaps adopt a child the next year.
Chris Karpenko:
I know that we've had a number of examples that we used for a docu-series, if you will, a long content film that we put out this past for about a year.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Chris, you mentioned a docu-series or documentary film about you Operation Santa. Can you expand upon that a little bit?
Chris Karpenko:
So we shot it two years ago and then COVID hit, and then the year that it was coming out, so you shoot it the year and then you have to edit it and put it in. So it's about a year process. It came out last year and was probably a really, really good timing. So we didn't foresee a pandemic, but the opportunity to show a film during that period of time that just showed so much kindness was, was really amazing, right. There was a lot of emotion to it. The, the really nice part about that too, was the reaction was, was really heartwarming. So you had lots of folks watching it. It's on it's available now and a number of video on demand entities. If you go to dearsanta.movie, you can actually see where it's being shown. The nice part about that film is there's a level of evergreen to it, meaning it's not just for one particular year, you can show this over and over again, and there's, there's something that's real and present about it year after year. And from a, from a film perspective, you know, we're, we're not, we're not in the filmmaking business. That's not what we do, right. We deliver, we deliver experiences, we deliver all sorts of stuff, you know, for the packages, mail and such. But what we do do here with, with this film the film industry actually has has kind of rewarded us for that film. So Tribeca X made us best feature film, which is kind of unique. We found a lot of fun things that were coming out. The Heartland film festival, New York Docs invited us to play, we were at Brand Storytelling at Sundance and, and talking about the film, a lot of really good things. By the time this airs, we will be also looking at a network that we'll be doing a four to six episode series shooting this year for next year, which we're really excited about. So it's a continuation of that good news, good story, good people doing good things. So we're super excited about that.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
So once the Postal Service receives these letters to Santa and identifies them as being part of Operation Santa, how does the Postal Service then connect the letters with people who want to participate in the program?
Sue Brennan:
So if you are interested in adopting a letter, the first thing that you need to do is register, create an account on USPS Operation Santa.com. And because just like Chris said, that safety and security is paramount, uou also need to have your ID verified. So there's a process for that. You can get your ID verified online. There's two different options to get verified ID verified online. And if that's not possible this year for the first time, we have an option to get your ID verified in person at post offices around the country.
Chris Karpenko:
and Sue, the website of where they could go?
Sue Brennan:
USPS Operations Santa dot com.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
And so then once you have your account and you're on the website, then you can sort of browse through and see the letters?
Sue Brennan:
You can. And there are some new features this year. One is that the lot, the, when you click on a letter, it will be locked with you for five minutes. You have five minutes to review the letter. And if you haven't adopted it at that point, it's going to go back into the system. And then once you adopt a letter, you're going to go out shopping probably, and package it up nicely, and then take it to your local post office with the barcode that you have been given and ship the package to the letter writer.
Chris Karpenko:
And the nice part about that is nobody exchanges any personal information. So their safety is probably one of the most important components here. And we've evolved, you know, with this digital age, this idea around safety and the ability to look up things, I would argue that seventy-five years ago, you didn't have the internet, so you couldn't go online and look someone up. Whereas today you've got so many other things going on and the, you know, the safety and protection of children is so important to the postal service. We are number one in trust as a brand or an entity. We want to maintain that trust. So it's really important for us to do that.
Dale Parsan:
Sue, is there a way that I can, once I create my account and I start browsing through these letters, is there a way that I could focus my search just to my local community? That way I can really feel as though I'm having an impact on my neighborhood
Sue Brennan:
For safety and security reasons, you can search for families versus individuals. You can search for male or female, and you can search by state and from Spanish and English speaking letters.
Dale Parsan:
So it sounds like there's been a, quite a lot of changes to Operation Santa over the years. How does this year's Operation Santa compare with last year's?
Sue Brennan:
So much better? We we've listened to all of the comments that were made last year. Remember last year was the first time this program has been national. In 109 years, it's the first time it's been a national program. And, and we, we had a lot of responses and a lot of comments. So one, we started earlier, we started two weeks earlier, accepting letters. We separated registration from, from the actual adoption process to get, to let people get acclimated with the site before the letters get posted live. And there's an adoption limit this year. This year we can, you can adopt up to 15 letters, but we have capped it because the letters were vanishing so quickly. We want to spread it out a little bit and give everybody an opportunity to adopt some letters.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
So what recommendations can you offer people who want to participate this year, any tips or tricks or things that they should keep in mind?
Sue Brennan:
Last year, there were some issues regarding high postage costs, and we have built out the FAQ's on the system, giving ideas on ways to mitigate postage costs using flat rate boxes, for sure. Adopting somebody as close to you in your state or in a nearby state, maybe not purchasing the very heavy, large gifts and sending a gift card instead.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
That's a great idea. So I think a lot of what we talked about so far is kind of focused on the impact that this has on the letter writers as well as the people who are participating in kind of being part of that holiday spirit. Have you heard a lot from different participants, such as postal employees or volunteers about what this program has meant to them?
Sue Brennan:
Oh yeah. They, on the social channels, especially. A lot of people are posting that they personally benefited from getting a letter adopted many years ago, and they've never forgotten and swore the, when they got into a position to give back that they would do that. So you see that a lot people that have gotten gifts through the program in the past are adopting families. And, and they're very excited about it.
Chris Karpenko:
You know, I, you know, I think when you look at Operations Santa, you know, it's, it's, it's the Postal Service’s way of, of really multiplying the magic of the holidays here. You know, you're taking hundreds of thousands of potential letters that are coming out there and you're, you're actually inviting people to adopt those letters and, and respond to them. So I think it's an enablement for us. We don't necessarily own the program if it, in some way, so many ways, but we enable that and we enable it for, for everyone. So it's really a wonderful, wonderful option for, for folks to take part in. Right? So when you, when you look at what Operations Santa is, what it's been and what it's to become, it's, it's something that has a lot of heart for a lot of folks. All right. Sue, you've been doing this for a number of years. We've had a lot of people out there that we don't ha we don't even know that are under the radar that are out there in the, in the field at post offices, whether they're carriers, clerks, postmasters, mail, handlers, right, rural carriers, they all have some level of connection with their, with their communities. And they're all wanting to contribute and do something within their communities. Right? So Operation Santa is one way or one extension of being able to do that. And we've seen it started 109 years ago and evolve and continuously evolve. And I think this is what's really unique about it. The Postal Service evolves with its customers and what we need to do for our customers and Operation Santa will continue to go because there will still be people out there and children out there looking to write letters to Santa and asking for, for a variety of different things, just for, for experiencing the magic. And it's our opportunity to help convey that magic or enable that magic. And we can do it a number of different ways. 20, 30 years ago, people weren't using mobile devices. Now they are, and where we enabled more people to participate in adopting with the Operation Santa program, by making a digital version of that. Things to come, probably more safety, probably looking at more ways to choose the person you might be interested in adopting for whether it's a, a boy or a girl or a female male. Whether it's someone in, in the state, whether it's someone that's, that's looking to have maybe something like food versus you know, blanket or shoes, but, but we should potentially have those types of things in the roadmap and figuring out what we can do to continue a strong program that continues on for the next 250 years.
Dale Parsan:
Very exciting.
Sue Brennan:
Well, and, and increasing the communication, we still get so many emails and posts from people saying that they've never heard about the program. And ideally we want to fix that. We want to start communication earlier and, and have more communication out there to, to spread the word and give people the information that they need.
Dale Parsan:
So Sue, if some of our listeners want to get involved for, for this year's holiday season of Operation Santa as a too late?
Sue Brennan:
No, it's not too late. We're accepting letters through December 10th. So people could still send letters to Santa and adoption go runs through December 22nd. So there's still time to send letters and there's still time to adopt them.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
And Sue, what's the website again?
Sue Brennan:
USPS Operation Santa.com.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
So Sue Chris, thank you so much for joining and sharing information about USPS Operation, Santa. Thank you very much.
Chris Karpenko:
Thanks for having us. And don't forget to adopt a letter
Dale Parsan:
It's time for Did You Know. In this segment, Yasmin and I each share a fun historical or cultural fact about the Postal Service.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
That's right. Dale, it's a chance for us to shed some light on parts of the Postal Service and its history that most people probably have never heard of. Bonus points if either of us can come up with something the other person didn't already know. I've got a really interesting one for this episode.
Dale Parsan:
Great. Then let's get started.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
So in an earlier episode of Mailin It, Postal Service historian, Jenny Lynch gave us a pretty comprehensive picture of America's colonial postal service. In fact, our conversation with Jenny got me thinking about the ways people got their mail back then. Did you know Dale that the very first mail drop in the Colonies was actually in a pub?
Dale Parsan:
Really? Next you're gonna tell me the bartender was the postmaster.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
I don’t know if he served drinks too, but the first postmaster was a tavern owner named Richard Fairbanks.
Dale Parsan:
I guess that's a good way to make sure people pick up their letters.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
As Jenny mentioned, when we spoke with her mail, wasn't delivered directly to people's homes back then. In 1639, the general court of Massachusetts designated Richard Fairbanks’ tavern in Boston as the official site for mail going to, or coming from overseas. Mr. Fairbank's had arrived in Boston from England in 1634, and his house was licensed by the government to sell “Strong Water.” The post office was set up in a tavern because that would have been familiar to the colonists. In England, taverns, coffee houses, and inns were often used as post offices.
Dale Parsan:
Okay. A little bit of old country in the new world.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
That's right. According to historians, Mr. Fairbank's received one penny for every letter he delivered or dispatched. The idea was that the Massachusetts colonial government wanted to prevent the miscarriage of letters. We don't know how long he served in the role of postmaster. He died in 1667. Okay. Dale, your turn.
Dale Parsan:
Thanks Yasmine from Moscow mules to the real deal. Did you know that the Postal Service delivers mail to the Havasupai people in the heart of the Grand Canyon - one of the country's most remote native American reservations?
Yasmine DiGiulio:
I did not! I'm guessing they use air mail or a helicopter to bring it.
Dale Parsan:
No, actually they're more old school than that. They actually use mules to carry mail, food and supplies down a rough, nearly 10 mile trail through switchbacks a riverbend and rocks to the Supai post office. This has been going on since at least the 1930s. There are no roads leading down to the post office. So the mule train operates five days a week. It consists of roughly 10 to 20 mules, as well as a Wrangler and helper who ride horses. The Wrangler actually lives in Supai and rides out with untethered mules to the hilltop each morning for the three hour ride up. Each mule can carry up to 200 pounds. Most of it, food and other supplies, and the weight is loaded equally on each side for balance. The mule train has been instrumental in providing for the Supai community during COVID.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Wow, that sounds like a really cool window into the past. Watching mail delivered by pack animals in the age of online shopping and express mail.
Dale Parsan:
It's a unique piece of Americana. The last official mail by mule route in the country. Maybe the best part, each piece of stamped mail leaving the Supai post office receives a mule mail postmark. Before the COVID lockdown visitors from around the world, visit the little post office at the bottom of the Grand Canyon just for that postmark.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
That's pretty interesting Dale, very unique. On that note, we'll leave it there until the next episode. So Dale, what did you think of our topic today?
Dale Parsan:
Honestly, I'm floored. I'm a little embarrassed to say, I wasn't too informed about Operation Santa. And after this conversation, I have to say I'm pretty motivated to, to become an adopter myself.
Yasmine DiGiulio:
Yeah, me too. It was really inspiring to hear the stories of the impact that the program has both on the, the letter writers as well as on the participants. And I think it's really a nice heartwarming story and it's great that the Postal Service can help facilitate these kinds of connections across the country.