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Help Needed To Answer Bay Area Letters To Santa

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - The U.S. Postal Service in San Francisco is calling on the community to help with its Letters to Santa campaign. It's a program that's been around for roughly 100 years, with many participants being children from in-need families.

Every year, the postal service is on the receive end of the letters from kids, addressed to Santa Claus and other seasonal characters. Postal service employees try to answer as many of those letters as possible - and now volunteers will have the chance to do the same this week.

"They pick out the letter and take it with them, they don't know who it's for, they just know...the age and gender of the child," said San Francisco postal spokesman James Wigdel, who explained that many who respond to letters also donate a toy. Some letter writers even request food and clothing.

"Last year we had about 600 letters come through the system," recalled Wigdel. "We got about 400 answered, so that was pretty good."

KCBS' Chris Filippi Reports:

Anyone who wants to participate in the Letters to Santa program is being directed to the postal handling facility, 1300 Evans Ave., San Francisco,

(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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