Registration opens for USPS Operation Santa, which pairs adopters with holiday letters

Maui residents, businesses and community groups can now register to adopt letters to Santa through the US Postal Service’s Operation Santa program and send gifts to children and families in need.

The Postal Service announced Wednesday that adopter registration is open. Prospective adopters must complete a registration and ID verification process on the program’s website, which the Postal Service said is done for security reasons. Past participants must be verified again each year.

Approved adopters can begin selecting letters and shopping for gifts Nov. 16. Gifts must be shipped by Dec. 12 from a participating Post Office location or through the program’s online gift catalog.

The Postal Service said the program receives thousands of letters each year, often more than there are adopters, and many come from entire households.

“To help these families, we encourage companies and organizations to form teams to adopt a household together,” said Sheila Holman, the Postal Service’s vice president of marketing.

Adopters can follow these steps:

• Create an account and verify identity on the Operation Santa website.
• Select a letter or letters from an individual or family.
• Shop for gifts independently or through Santa’s Gift Shoppe, an online catalog the Postal Service operates with Toys”R”Us.
• Ship all gifts by Dec. 12.

Adopters who prefer to shop in person can still send gifts from a Post Office.

The Postal Service began accepting letters for the 114-year-old program Sept. 14. Letters are available on the website to be read and adopted. The agency said it cannot guarantee that every letter will be posted, or that a posted letter will be adopted and fulfilled.

Holman said the program has run for more than a century and has helped thousands of children and families during the holidays.

More information on the program, including its history, important dates and how to participate as a letter writer or adopter, is available at USPSOperationSanta.com.