Santa Letters Show Hardships Caused by Sandy, Economy
Santa Letters Show Hardships Caused by Sandy, Economy
The “Dear Santa” letters piled high in the back offices of New York’s main post office are just as cute and misspelled as ever, but their scribbles and drawings tell heart-wrenching stories of children dealing with the hardships of unemployed parents and the ravages of Superstorm Sandy.
“I know you must be very busy helping a lot of people who has been misplaced by Hurricane Sandy,” Paige writes after asking after “Santa and Mrs. Santa’s” health. “My mother and I and my little brother had to leave our house in Queens. We are now staying with my aunt in New York City. We still don’t have electricity. My mother is moving to South Carolina.”
She asks Santa for a computer for herself and a Transformer for her brother.
“We wish you luck and a Merry Christmas,” she wrote. “Please help us and all the families that was hurt by Hurricane Sandy.”
As the U.S. Postal Service begins the 100th year of the “Operation Santa” letters program to connect the wishes of needy children with anonymous donors willing to play secret Santa, Pete Fontana, chief of Elf Operations, is so distressed he’s stopped reading the letters.