USPS carrier not allowed to deliver while wearing Santa suit.

By NAT LEVY
Bellevue Reporter Staff Writer

While dreams of Santa popping down the chimney on Christmas Eve to deliver presents were extinguished for most during childhood, a select few Bellevue residents have seen St. Nick trade in his sleigh for a mail truck.

Until now.

For more than a decade now, letter carrier Bob McLean has driven around Bellevue each holiday season, delivering a little Christmas cheer while wearing a full Santa getup for two or three days. But this year, a local grinch complained to the U.S. Postal Service, and McLean has been banned from bringing his alter ego to work this year.

“The government is shutting me down because it’s a non-postal regulation uniform,” said McLean, who has been with the postal service since 1971.

McLean began donning the red and white when a stranger at the mall told him he looked like Santa Claus. Always the crowd pleaser, McLean took to the comparison, went out and bought a suit, and then another.

When he first started delivering mail in full Santa garb, McLean immediately noticed the attention. He said he’s caused traffic jams on his route on Old Main as passing drivers attempted to catch a glimpse. Merchants along his route have watched for years as McLean has been the center of attention to tourists and residents alike.

“They stop him on the corner and want group pictures with him,” said Brenda Archuletta, manager of Amore Chocolates. “Little kids – they just stare because they wonder.”

They wonder because he fits the character. Every bit Kris Kringle, McLean sports a white beard and a tuft of long white hair. Looking the part is no easy effort, either. He dyes his blond hair, and keeps a careful eye on the calendar when he trims the beard.

The only part of the Santa look he lacks is the portly figure, after losing 95 pounds.

McLean has brought his alter ego to Bellevue’s most popular Christmas attraction, Snowflake Lane, where he took his family a few years ago. He said they were pushed aside as 50 people lined up to take pictures.

He’s also been a big hit at the Aegis Living of Bellevue senior center. He visits regularly as both Santa and mailman. The residents know him well, and  are always excited when Santa knows their name, he said.

But only a few days after Thanksgiving this year, he was pulled off his route by a supervisor saying someone had complained about the uniform. He didn’t know who he had upset, or why the complaint was filed.

“This was the first time; I don’t know what happened,” he said. “I don’t step on anyone’s toes. Being Santa isn’t religious to me; it’s secular. It’s about giving.”

USPS spokesman Ernie Swanson said the complaint came from a fellow carrier. Decked out in the full on Santa suit, McLean was not recognizable as a USPS employee.

McLean is still shocked over the outcome. He sees carriers wearing Christmas gear all the time. Either way, McLean said, he will bring the Christmas cheer, and he plans to don the Santa suit at work one last time: Christmas Eve.

Bob McLean delivers mail along his route while dressed as Santa Claus in 2009. CHAD COLEMAN, Bellevue Reporter File Photo

Contact Bellevue Reporter Staff Writer Nat Levy at nlevy@bellevuereporter.com or 425-453-4290.

SANTA GETS EXTRA SUPPORT FROM SOME UNEXPECTED HELPERS

By: Jahkedda Akbar and Ariel Merrick, Common Cents Interns

“We have $500 to buy items for needy families,” fifth grade students from PS 163 in Manhattan explained as they rode the subway to the 34^th Street Post Office. They headed there, led by Sue Knaster, the school’s Math Coach, as part of a “Dear Santa” Neighborhood Service project they organized to help families during the holidays. The students were excited to help, but knew they would have a difficult task ahead: they could only choose 3 families to support.

At the Post Office, the students headed right to the Santa Station — a section of the post office where all of the “Dear Santa” letters are kept during the holidays – and gathered around a long table. Dear Santa is a national program run by the United States Postal Service each year to help families in need during the holiday season. Children and parents write letters and then local donors purchase items they request. This year, the students at PS 163 decided to be the local donors and help brighten the holidays.  

At the post office, students were given a batch of Dear Santa letters to consider. One student commented, “I don’t know how many of these I can read. It’s so sad.” They were shocked to find families that did not have basic necessities like clothing. After reading several letters, each student selected at least one family they wanted to help.

After two hours the group decided to help three families and set off to buy the items on the list. Together, the students walked to a local clothing store, split into groups – one for each family – and scoured for the best deals and the items they thought were the nicest – they wanted each family to have a big Christmas with lots of gifts. Each group had $100 to spend; one student asked, “If we don’t go over $100, can we buy something for the mother too.” Another student followed by asking if she could contribute her own money if they needed more.

After the shopping was complete, the students returned to school to wrap the gifts and prepare them for Christmas morning. By the end of the day, it was clear that not only would these families have a happier Christmas, but the students would as well.

By LORI BASHEDA / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

They have read your letter, addressed to the North Pole. And all the other letters sent by little boys named Kyle and little girls named Cheyenne. Letters addressed to Candy Cane Lane, Silver Bells Road and Winter Wonderland. Letters that are piling up at the Santa Ana district post office.

They may not be able to make the tumor disappear in your dog Benny. Or locate a unicorn. But they are working very hard to make at least some of your Christmas wishes come true.

How could they not, when then read letters like this one from a little girl.

“Dear Santa … A year ago my dad killed my mom and little brother so now I don’t have a mom or dad, only a sister. Im 9 years old and would like for you to bring me something for Christmas if you can. Anything would be ok.”

Or this one: “Dear Santa, my brother says that I was 3 years when my dad left. I do not remember him. My mom doesent have no meney. Sometimes I want a burger and she do not have not even a dollar. The other day I had a dream that my dad came in dressed like Santa with a lot of presents but my mom says it is just a dream.”

Some of the young letter writers aren’t even asking for anything for themselves.

“Dear Santa, my mom is sad and I can see it, paying bills and getting by being a single mom with three kids is hard for her,” one boy writes. “Just bring happyiness to my mom.”

Another girl tells Santa she has had four surgeries on her legs, but she is more concerned about her parents feeling bad because they can’t afford presents for her little sisters.

“People and kids look at my legs a lot and I don’t feel good when they do and point at me,” she writes. “But my mom and dad always been there to help me! That’s why I’m asking you to please help them this year. … Will you please help them. You don’t need to give me anything.”

Not all the letter writers are children.

One arrived from a 43-year-old unemployed mother of three. “Dear santa, I now write to you because I feel alone,” her letter reads. “I plead that maybe you can grant me the wish of a job.”

Fortunately, not every letter writer is full of sorrows. In fact some of the writers seem to have it better than this writer.

A girl who signed her letter “always nice, never naughty” is asking for “a brand new sparkly diamond ring.”

And here’s the opening line from a boy: “Dear Santa, please get me and my dad a Lamborghini.”

That same boy asks Santa to give his mom a baby boy, which would probably cancel out his dad’s delight over the Lamborghini.

If one thing is for sure, it’s that Santa letter writers cannot be stereotyped.

There are fesser-uppers: “Dear Red, I am sorry I was a bad boy.”

And butter-uppers. “Dear Santa, You’re a great guy,” begins a girl named Angelina.

There are politicians: “Thank you for participating in Christmas,” a girl named Miriam signs off.

And bargainers: “I will not yell at my mom or cry or fight with my sisters,” swears Brooklyn after asking for a guinea pig to replace the one that died.

There are cheerleaders: “Dear Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman is coming back on Christmas day!” is one boy’s entire letter.

Over-achievers: “What I would really like though is a spot on the nice list,” writes a girl named Rebecca.

And possibly even the next Kitty Kelley: “I would like to ask for your permission to write a book about you,” pens a boy.

Some kids play it cool: “Dear Santa, long time no see,” writes a girl named Gianna. “Could you go to Haiti for me?”

Others have been watching too many detective shows. “Have you ever met someone named Charo Guerrro? A.k.a Salvador Guerrero” one boy asks, directing Santa to then circle Yes or No.

And then there are those kids who you aren’t quite sure what category they belong in. “Do those little doll elfs come alive on Christmas (if you have been good) because my mom says that we don’t believe that the elf dolls come alive on Christmas.”

Some of the letters include catalogue clippings to make sure Santa gets it right. One girl taped half a dozen doll photos to her wish list. “They are the new things this year so I feel sorry for your elfs,” she writes. “Tell them to work with all they got.”

Other requests range from an electric pencil to underwear. One boy asked for the odd trio of an invisibility cloak, a Diet Rite Cola and perfect attendance. “Thank you for listening,” he signs off.

Another boy asks for a doghouse and then left his footprint in what appears to be dirt on the stationery.

But for every 10 kids who ask Santa what football team he roots for or remind him that they have outgrown Legos, there is one who wants “my abuelita to believe in herself and start walking.” A letter that breaks your heart.

“I want to know why you never come to my house,” one girl writes. “I wait for you and you never came. I have good grades. Please could you come this Christmas and make happy my family.”

Operation Santa USPS Locations

We just posted the list of USPS locations who are participating in Operation Santa this year, complete with addresses and telephone numbers.

You can find your post office and print out the correct form to take with you when you go to read and pick up “Dear Santa” letters from needy children.

Click here.

Operation Santa in the News

KABC-TV Los Angeles, CA   Operation Santa kicks off at post offices.
People at post offices around the country are feverishly reading through millions of “Dear Santa” letters, picking out the ones where the wants truly need to be met. Read rest of article here.

USA Today  Letters to Santa reveal nation in need

Operation Santa begins its 99th year today, and Pete Fontana, chief of Elf Operations at New York’s main post office, expects a record number of Santa letters from needy children as families continue to cope with a shaky economy. Read rest of article here.

With just nine days to go until Santa shimmies down those chimneys, letters to the big, jolly guy are coming in fast and furious.

But this year, mixed in with the letters asking for toys and video games are an increasing number of requests for warm coats, food and help paying the electric bill to keep the heat on.

“The common theme this year seems to be a single mom with young kids, the parent has left — they don’t know who the father is, or the father left — and they can’t pay the bills,” said Pete Fontana, head of the United States Postal Service Operation Santa in New York.

Want to help a family in need this Christmas? Hundreds of “World News” viewers already have taken action. For more on how you can help, read to the end of this story or CLICK HERE.

It’s Fontana’s post office in midtown Manhattan — right across the street from Penn Station — where most of the letters to Santa arrive each year from around the world. He’s expecting about 2 million letters this year.

Post offices in two dozen other locations across the country also accept letters. Most are addressed simply to “Santa Claus, North Pole.”

Though many considered last year to be the toughest financially since the economic downturn began, Fontana said, it appears that more people are struggling this year, judging both from the letters and the decreased number of volunteers who sign up to fulfill some of the writers’ wishes.

“We had one little girl write in and say all she wants is a winter coat for her mom. Nothing for herself,” he said. “We had another letter for grandparents and they wanted to put a turkey with the trimmings for the holiday dinner … but they couldn’t even get their medicine.”

Other letters are similarly heartbreaking.

Eight-year-old Skayla told Santa that her mother doesn’t have a job and her father lives in the Dominican Republic, leaving it up to her grandmother to buy everything. She asked for clothes and shoes for herself, her 7-year-old sister and their infant brother, even including their sizes.

“Thanks Santa,” she wrote,” I LOVE YOU.”

Ruth, a single mother of three, made a similar request for clothes and shoes “and a bit of toys (IF YOU CAN.)”

“I’m trying to get help as soon as possible,” she wrote. “I’m desperate for help. I don’t work and I barely have money.”

But for Shadybeth, a little girl living with her ill grandmother, a Merry Christmas would mean a permanent place to live.

“Maybe that’s why you don’t remember me Santa. We still living in another shelter,” she wrote. “My grandmother is very sick and we need our place so she could rest.”

She ended her letter with a postscript: “Santa Please try to help this time. God Bless you.”

Kati, a 13-year-old living in the projects in the Bronx in New York City asked Santa this year for an iPod touch or jewelry.

“Santa, I have been a good girl, I do the right thing even if stuff happen,” she wrote. “I love my family and I’m very grateful.”

Sad Letters Mix With the Fun, Whimsical Requests

Fontana said his post office has gotten about 700 volunteers this year. Individual volunteers can take up to 10 letters to fulfill. Large companies and corporations have no limit.

Typically, he would have gotten double that number of volunteers by now.

“I think people are being very careful how they spend their money now,” he said.

Still, it’s not all bad news. The children have penned some creative letters.

“Children will give you a whole list. I had one give me three pages of an Excel file,” he said, noting that the child even included the item numbers from the Toys ‘R Us catalog for easier shopping. “Fifty items on each page.”

“Then you have those that will go through the catalog and cut and paste the items into the letter,” he said. Recently, he got a letter from a 17-year-old in Japan reminding “Santa” that he didn’t come when the letter-writer was 12. “I was sad,” the teen wrote. “So please try and visit my home this year. I will wait.” And all those volunteers — those that can afford to — are more than willing to go big. On Friday, a woman picked up a letter from a child that only wanted a piano for Christmas, Fontana said, and she was determined to deliver. “I said, ‘Just one problem, a piano is not mail-able,’” he said. “So we wound up with a Yamaha keyboard.”

‘World News’ Viewers Reach Out

After sharing this story on our broadcast and website, “World News with Diane Sawyer” received an overwhelming flood of e-mails with offers to help. Hundreds of people wrote, asking where they could send gifts to Santa letter authors. “I was so touched to see the story about how different the letters to Santa are this year,” wrote Linda from Middletown, Conn. “I just had my first child last December, and I feel so blessed that I can provide for her without a single thought. … But so many parents are not as lucky.” Nicole from southern Louisiana wrote with several ideas for things to send. “I would like to send a JC Penney gift card or a Wal-Mart gift card,” she wrote, adding that she thought of purchasing a food voucher for a Christmas meal from a local grocer. Dustin wrote us, “I’m 19 years old from Oxford, Ohio. … I want to help as much as I can.” “We would like to help out the little girl who asked for a coat for her mom,” wrote Arti. “This little girl isn’t even asking for herself, and we want to help her.”

Erika, a 25-year-old living in New York, saw our story and wrote, “It takes a moment like this to put the ‘big’ problems into perspective. … Thank you for reminding us all what the holidays are really about — giving, not getting.” And Dana, who’s been out of work for two years, said he and his wife, Phyllis, were touched by the letters. “Christmas will be somewhat light for us this year, yet we are still blessed and would like to share what we do have,” he wrote.  

How You Can Help

ABC News has responded to each of these letter writers with information on how to help. If you want to help make a Christmas wish come true, the best way is by contacting a local post office participating in Operation Santa. Click here for a list of participating post offices from USPS.com.

If there isn’t a post office in your area taking part in the program, the U.S. Postal Service asks that you do an internet search in your area for other charities that also answer letters to Santa.

Operation Santa Claus answers Dear Santa letters from needy children

Operation Santa Claus in NYC is back for another year to offer an opportunity to help the less fortunate this Christmas.

For more than 100 years, volunteer postal workers have answered letters to Santa from children who would otherwise have no Christmas at all.

Operation Santa Claus, based out of the James A. Farley building across from Madison Square Garden, continues to grow and evolve each year. And this Christmas season, Operation Santa Claus may be available at your local post office. Please check with your postmaster to find out where you can get “Dear Santa” letters. Call 1-800-ASK-USPS to obtain the telephone number of your post office.

All you have to do is show proper identification (drivers license or other government photo ID) and fill out a brief application form. Then you can choose up to five letters from children who have little of no hope of receiving a Christmas present.

If you are a company or other group wanting to pick up to 10 letters you will need to make a third party appointment by calling 212-330-3000 and filling out a brief application form.

LETTERS to SANTA PROGRAM

Delivering the Holidays, Delivering Dreams

As close as we can tell, the Postal Service began receiving letters to Santa Claus more than 100 years ago. However, it was in 1912 that Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local postmasters to allow postal employees and citizens to respond to the letters in the program that became known as Operation Santa.

In 1940, mail volume for Santa increased so much the Postal Service invited charitable organizations and corporations to participate to provide written responses to the letters and small gifts to the children who wrote them. Over the past 69 years, the program has taken on a life of its own. Postal facilities in cities around the country today allow charitable organizations, major corporations, local businesses and individuals to adopt letters to Santa to make children’s holiday dreams come true from coast to coast.

Individuals and organizations interested in adopting a letter should go to a participating office and complete a participation form.  Click here to print a PDF of participating post offices. You can also call your local post office to see if this wonderful program is available in your area. Call 1-800-ASK-USPS.

Kick off of Operation Santa Claus, 2008

Operation Santa Claus (NYC)

When: December 1, 2009 through December 24, 2009. Please note that you will not be able to pick up letters on December 1st until after the kick off of the program. You will be able to pick up letters at 1 pm.

Hours:

Monday through Saturday, 9 am – 4 pm

Thursday, 9 am – 7 pm

Third party by appointment: 212-330-3000

Where: the James A. Farley Post Office, 33rd and 8th, New York, NY

Customer Relations Office
James A Farley Building  (Click here for map and driving directions)
Room 3023
421 Eighth Avenue
NY NY 10199-9998

For more information about the program, call 212-330-3000.

Participating Post Office Locations Across America

Click here to print or view Operation Santa Claus locations in other cities.

Click here to print Individual Participant Form.

Click here to print Organization Participant Form.

Call your local post office to find out if this wonderful program is available in your area. 1-800-ASK-USPS.

Please email us with new locations that are not listed on this form and we will immediately add them to our list!

Thank you so much for your interest and participation in Operation Santa Claus and we wish you and yours the very merriest Christmas!

Please visit Operation Letters To Santa for almost 1000 pages of Winter Holiday and Christmas family traditions, recipes, games, crafts, Christmas sheet music, Christmas carols, tales and so much more!
 
For beautifully nostalgic and vintage FREE desktop wallpapers for Christmas please click here.