Letters To Santa Too Important To Go Unanswered

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist - as certainly as the volunteers who answer the thousands of Santa letters that end up in Spokane.

“We want to keep their faith in Santa going,” said Bob Hammerstad of the Spokane post office. “We’ll let the parents break it to them eventually.”

More than 1,500 letters from throughout Eastern Washington and North Idaho start pouring in as early as Dec. 1, most addressed simply to “Santa Claus, North Pole.”

Some are scrawled in pencil. Many don’t have stamps.

But most don’t go unanswered, thanks to the local post office and about 100 volunteers from Washington Trust Bank.

For years, letters from Santa Claus were sent by United Way volunteers. Three years ago, when the program was threatened by a United Way funding cut, Washington Trust took over.

“We just couldn’t imagine that these kids were writing to Santa Claus and no one would respond,” said Debbi Carlson, a retail officer for the bank.

Reflecting a sad national trend, Santa mail is down in Los Angeles, Chicago and other cities, Hammerstad said. Last week, the U.S. Postal Service sent out a plea for kids to keep writing to St. Nick.

But in Spokane, volunteers and postal employees don’t want to take any chances.

Letters to Santa get an immediate handwritten response on special stationery with a picture of the jolly old man. No two are alike.

The volunteer elves don’t make promises, deftly dodging the demands for Barbies, remote-control cars and bicycles. Most volunteers try to be generic - they write about waxing the sleigh or rubbing Rudolph’s nose. They talk about Mrs. Claus’ baking and how busy the elves have been this year.

“I thought it was a good holiday thing to do,” said Geneva Hinz, a bank teller who has written 15 Santa letters this year. “It’s hard not to smile when you see these letters.”

The letters children send are often handwritten and phonetically spelled. They are scribbled with upside-down N’s and backward S’s.

The contents, however, vary.

Some are to the point: “Santa, I want video games. I’ve been a good boy. Thank you.”

Other kids send drawings and gifts, like hand-made necklaces, to Santa. They write about school, their family, the non-believing kid who rides the same bus. They also ask Santa for gifts to give their parents and siblings.

The saddest letters plead for the basics: socks, shoes, groceries. Those letters are forwarded to United Way so the families get help.

“Kids have enough trouble being kids,” said Hammerstad. “… For some, Santa Claus is their only hope.”

, DataTimes