US Postal Service Announces a Nationwide Digital 'Operation Santa' (cnn.com) 25
For 108 years Americans have helped their postal service perform "Operation Santa." But this year's program will be fully digital and nationwide, reports CNN:
The program allows children and families to write letters to Santa, which will then be processed and shared online beginning on December 4 at USPSOperationSanta.com. Once the letters are live, anyone in the U.S. can go online and adopt a letter, and help make a child or family's holiday wishes come true. Companies also can help adopt letters as teams.
While anyone and everyone can write a letter, the program was started to help families and kids in need, said Kim Frum, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). "The program has always been about providing holiday gifts for families who may not have the means to provide for anything more than basic everyday needs," Frum told CNN in email. Over the last 108 years, the USPS has received hundreds of thousands of letters as part of the "Operation Santa" program, Frum said. Last year alone, more than 11,000 packages were sent to people who wrote to Santa and had their letters adopted. USPS first launched an online pilot of USPS Operation Santa in 2017 in New York City, Frum said. It expanded to seven cities online in 2018, and 17 cities in 2019. The success of the digitization of the program helped pave the way for this year's expansion.
The decision to go fully digital comes as coronavirus cases continue to surge nationwide, leaving the nation to grapple with the consequences, including the economic impact.
While anyone and everyone can write a letter, the program was started to help families and kids in need, said Kim Frum, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). "The program has always been about providing holiday gifts for families who may not have the means to provide for anything more than basic everyday needs," Frum told CNN in email. Over the last 108 years, the USPS has received hundreds of thousands of letters as part of the "Operation Santa" program, Frum said. Last year alone, more than 11,000 packages were sent to people who wrote to Santa and had their letters adopted. USPS first launched an online pilot of USPS Operation Santa in 2017 in New York City, Frum said. It expanded to seven cities online in 2018, and 17 cities in 2019. The success of the digitization of the program helped pave the way for this year's expansion.
The decision to go fully digital comes as coronavirus cases continue to surge nationwide, leaving the nation to grapple with the consequences, including the economic impact.
Can't process ballots but kids letters okey dokey (Score:2, Insightful)
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It's brilliant. Sure you want to take America back to when it was great but how far back is that exactly? When was the last time America seemed just perfect?
The answer everyone can agree on is back when I still believed in Santa Claus.
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Perfection? Try 1999/2000. Windows 2000 was thought to be all the OS we'd ever need. The AP Wire and most magazines were freely readable on the WWW.
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When I went to college in the 1970s, birth control pills had become widely available and there were no common STDs that couldn't be cleared up by a few weeks of penicillin.
Re:Can't process ballots but kids letters okey dok (Score:4, Insightful)
The postal office did great, despite the administration's attempt to kneecap it.
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Yes, and in no state did the accusations of mistakes equal that state's margin-of-victory. Trump, why haven't you conceded yet?
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Once the letters are live, anyone in the U.S. can go online and adopt a letter, and help make a child or family's holiday wishes come true.
Anyone can dive in and help themselves. Anyone. "Hello, little girl. How old are you? Are your parents around? What are you wearing?".
I really hope they've got decent vetting in place...
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What horseshit. (Score:2)
"The program has always been about providing holiday gifts for families who may not have the means to provide for anything more than basic everyday needs,"
How about congress raise the goddamn minimum wage to something reasonable?!
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But just like Santa Claus, it's often the young and naive that also believe in the fairy tale that forcing businesses to raise minimum wage can only lead to good.
That's probably because the preponderance of examples show that forcing businesses to raise minimum wage can only lead to good.
I'm probably going to get hate for this... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Terry Pratchett wrote (through the words of Death) that belief in little lies like The Hogfather (Santa) is practice to believe in big lies like justice and mercy.
He did not mention that it's practice for believing in other big lies like fatherland and race.
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God is not unlike Santa, though more extreme. A lot of people really like the notion that God is real, and
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Have you ever seen a charCOAL outside grill? Yeah, they're a little out of style, but that's coal lumps for ya.
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Well, in the first place, there really was a Saint Nicholas who started all of this... So, rather than a myth, it's more like a true story that morphed into a children's story.
But it exposes children to some interesting facets of human nature:
Stories of Santa, while enjoyed in childhood, prepare people to
No Santa this year kids. Covid (Score:1)
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Uh, Dr. Fachi has said Santa has developed immunity. I guess they already have the vaccine at the North Pole.
Slashdotted... (Score:2)
Sorry kids, the Internet link to the North Pole seems a little saturated right now...