Local Elves Help Santa Reply to Letters

With Christmas around the corner, the U.S. Postal Service gets thousands of letters from small ones asking Santa to bring special presents. Who is in charge of these letters to Santa? Around the South Coast, I couldn't find a definitive answer if the local post offices have a group of postal elves to help Santa. The closest I could find is the Boston Post Office on Dorchester Avenue, where Fran Griffith at 617-654-5802 is in charge of making sure the kids hear back from Santa!

About 20 other communities across America have similar elf volunteers, who work as postal employees, helping Santa by writing back. One such community is in Royal Oak, Michigan where volunteers meet at a secret location in the weeks before Christmas to sort through letters and decide how to best respond, according to The Daily Tribune.

The elves don't make promises, not every request is for a gift, and even adults write letters. For instance, an 8-year-old boy wrote asking only that his mom and dad be happy. It breaks my heart to hear for such a gift. The boy's mother wrote, too. The mom said she still believed in Santa but was having a hard year because she was going through a divorce. She wasn't sure she'd have enough money for the boy's Christmas and was worried her son was struggling to keep believing in Santa.

Reading this, the Royal Oak elves got busy. Donors' filled three large plastic bags with toys and an abundance of Christmas joy!  And every year, there are similar letters that tug at ones heart. It seems as though young and old unburden themselves to Santa, where they wouldn't normally say anything to anyone.

Do you believe the South Coast should have similar "postal elf helpers?" Do you have the desire to be one of the elves? For next year, let's figure this out locally, and take it to the next level.