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brugroffil
Nov 30, 2015


:siren:Signs-ups are now open for USPS Operation Santa:siren:

https://www.uspsoperationsanta.com/

They've also launched "adopt as a team" option this year, but in order to register your account, they're going to verify you real name and address. They do this to protect the letter-writers, at least according to the FAQ. If you join a team, your real name and email will be visible to at least the team creator/admin.


I created a CSPAM team before realizing that, but I'm not sure how many people would be comfortable sharing that information. If you want to join, great. If not, you can always adopt letters individually. I wrote their contact email asking if there's a way to appear pseudonymously in a team and if only the admin or if all members can see full name and email information.
https://www.uspsoperationsanta.com/team/b4f9a1cc

I made a dummy account for myself and it appears the name/email is only visible to the admin, fwiw.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
https://www.uspsoperationsanta.com/
"Each year, hundreds of thousands of letters sent to Santa from children and families arrive at Post Offices around the country. Most letters ask for toys and games. Some ask for basic necessities. Some ask for help for themselves and their loved ones.

USPS Operation Santa makes it possible for individuals and organizations to adopt these letters and send responses and thoughtful gifts in Santa’s place."


Some of these letters are absolutely crushing, children asking Santa to give their parents a few bucks to help their mom pay the bills, or for a coat to keep warm.
https://twitter.com/hilaryagro/status/1333770864383434758



Operation Santa 2020 will kick off on December 4th. If you're in need, you or your child can write in a letter. If you can help up, you can "adopt" an individual letter and help out that specific child.


Maybe we can crowdsource a gangtag for adopters or something idk

brugroffil has issued a correction as of 15:53 on Dec 4, 2020

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A Bakers Cousin
Dec 18, 2003

by vyelkin
I cried. Going to buy children things.

the milk machine
Jul 23, 2002

lick my keys

A Bakers Cousin posted:

I cried. Going to buy children things.

Woofer
Mar 2, 2020

a good thread to sticky. gonna spam this thread in a few other sub forums to raise awareness.

gently caress this stupid rear end country.

Just-In-Timeberlake
Aug 18, 2003

brugroffil posted:

https://www.uspsoperationsanta.com/
"Each year, hundreds of thousands of letters sent to Santa from children and families arrive at Post Offices around the country. Most letters ask for toys and games. Some ask for basic necessities. Some ask for help for themselves and their loved ones.

USPS Operation Santa makes it possible for individuals and organizations to adopt these letters and send responses and thoughtful gifts in Santa’s place."


Some of these letters are absolutely crushing, children asking Santa to give their parents a few bucks to help their mom pay the bills, or for a coat to keep warm.
https://twitter.com/hilaryagro/status/1333770864383434758



Operation Santa 2020 will kick off on December 4th. If you're in need, you or your child can write in a letter. If you can help up, you can "adopt" an individual letter and help out that specific child.


Maybe we can crowdsource a gangtag for adopters or something idk

Thanks, I've already gotten my gf on board instead of trading presents (and she's getting her friends to do the same), and my immediate family

the milk machine
Jul 23, 2002

lick my keys

Just-In-Timeberlake posted:

Thanks, I've already gotten my gf on board instead of trading presents (and she's getting her friends to do the same), and my immediate family

same. my family is pretty much all adults with a handful of babehs, so we're doing presents for the little ones and the adults are doing donations instead of presents and this seems like a good way to go. the letters on the site are from LAST YEAR, i can't imagine how lovely it must be for so many people this year. hope i can send a few smiles, at least :unsmith:

egyptian rat race
Jul 13, 2007

Lowtax Spine Fund 2019
Ultra Carp
Thanks for posting - awesome idea

Flying_Crab
Apr 12, 2002



I read that tweet this morning and died on the inside, more-so than I do every day here.

Hekk
Oct 12, 2012

'smeper fi

Jesus Christ that made me cry the manliest of tears. I am going to tell the wife tonight that we need to send presents to some of these kids.

citybeatnik
Mar 1, 2013

You Are All
WEIRDOS




Holy gently caress.

Yeah, spreading this and I'll talk to my wife about us doing an adoption of at least one of these letters.

DarkEuphoria
Nov 7, 2012


Posting to remind myself to do this when the letters drop. Thanks for starting the thread and I'm glad it is stickied!

Nothus
Feb 22, 2001

Buglord
Hell yeah, let's do this

Real Mean Queen
Jun 2, 2004

Zesty.


the milk machine posted:

the letters on the site are from LAST YEAR, i can't imagine how lovely it must be for so many people this year. hope i can send a few smiles, at least :unsmith:

That’s a really good point. These are already pretty brutal, the new batch is going to be horrific. I’m going to pass the link around a little bit once the site is open, and I’ll try to do at least one letter.

quote:

Letters received before Dec. 15 will be uploaded and made available for adoption, though the sooner your letter is received, the more likely it is to be answered.

I think this suggests that a second push a little bit later might be good. If this is a first come first served deal, we should be especially careful to encourage people who heard about it later or didn’t get around to it immediately to sponsor some poo poo. I’m thinking I bug everybody I know about it on the fourth and then again a week or so later.

Real Mean Queen has issued a correction as of 13:21 on Dec 2, 2020

Woofer
Mar 2, 2020

posting in this thread just to raise more awareness

I don’t know what my posting is doing to raise awareness but it’s more than whatever the richest country on earth is doing

Just-In-Timeberlake
Aug 18, 2003

Woofer posted:

posting in this thread just to raise more awareness

I don’t know what my posting is doing to raise awareness but it’s more than whatever the richest country that has ever existed in the history of the earth is doing

ftfy

this country is dogshit trash

Friend
Aug 3, 2008

These letters are heartbreaking. I read one asking for $100 to help with his parent's bills so they can afford internet and his dad can check on his brother's grades (which made me smile) and then one where a little boy asked if Santa could talk to God and tell Him he loves Him and ask if He loved him for being gay and now I'm crying and want to hug him and tell him God loves him no matter what :qq:

And then there was this one that I thought was a picture of Santa's sleigh burning from a chimney and about to be crushed by an asteroid.


Definitely on board for pitching in here, I'd love to be able to pool resources for one of the big asks like the motorized wheelchair or a family of letters (and I'll probably be adopting my own as well)

Wrong Theory
Aug 27, 2005

Satellite from days of old, lead me to your access code
Anyone else having issues signing up on their website? The submit button does an animation and nothing happens, I tried 3 different browsers (Chrome, Firefox and, ugh, Edge). Not sure if it accepted me or not. Maybe it starts the 4th, idk. Gonna do my best to make some kids Christmas a little brighter.

brugroffil
Nov 30, 2015


Iain posted:

Anyone else having issues signing up on their website? The submit button does an animation and nothing happens, I tried 3 different browsers (Chrome, Firefox and, ugh, Edge). Not sure if it accepted me or not. Maybe it starts the 4th, idk. Gonna do my best to make some kids Christmas a little brighter.

Yeah the 2020 campaign starts on Friday, probably can't sign up until then.

Eat This Glob
Jan 14, 2008

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. Who will wipe this blood off us? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent?

i grew up poor as poo poo but my extended family always made sure me and my siblings always had an enjoyable christmas. im no longer poor as poo poo, so ill have to do a usps adoption along with my regular stuff

PsychedelicWarlord
Sep 8, 2016


this is wrenching. I've signed up.

brugroffil
Nov 30, 2015


:siren:Signs-ups are now open for USPS Operation Santa:siren:

https://www.uspsoperationsanta.com/

They've also launched "adopt as a team" option this year, but in order to register your account, they're going to verify you real name and address. They do this to protect the letter-writers, at least according to the FAQ. If you join a team, your real name and email will be visible to at least the team creator/admin.


I created a CSPAM team before realizing that, but I'm not sure how many people would be comfortable sharing that information. If you want to join, great. If not, you can always adopt letters individually. I wrote their contact email asking if there's a way to appear pseudonymously in a team and if only the admin or if all members can see full name and email information.
https://www.uspsoperationsanta.com/team/b4f9a1cc

Salvor_Hardin
Sep 13, 2005

I want to go protest.
Nap Ghost
I joined the team. :unsmith:

brugroffil
Nov 30, 2015


Great! I'll add you sometime this weekend

If anyone else wants to sign up, you could remain a little more anonymous by not posting about it in here but sending an email to my username at Gmail, that way there'd be no tie to an SA username and your rl name

Friend
Aug 3, 2008

I'm in!

...Do we really not have a Santa emote that isn't sad, angry, or wielding a gun?

clockworx
Oct 15, 2005
The Internet Whore made me buy this account
This seems like a great cause, but when I login I see only one letter for a kid in california asking for a macbook. Is that normal? Is there some downtime period where they add more letters?

brugroffil
Nov 30, 2015


They add more everyday. I know they were all out yesterday.

clockworx
Oct 15, 2005
The Internet Whore made me buy this account

brugroffil posted:

They add more everyday. I know they were all out yesterday.

yep, looks like that was exactly it. there’s a ton out now.

Acelerion
May 3, 2005

I just signed up through the team. My son has been writing letters to all his family/friends through lockdown to pass the time and I think this will something awesome to do together, so we will grab a couple when the queue gets filled up again.

Vermain
Sep 5, 2006



Is there any way for a Canadian to participate? I'm guessing not, but a lot of these letters are extreme heartbreakers.

brugroffil
Nov 30, 2015


Vermain posted:

Is there any way for a Canadian to participate? I'm guessing not, but a lot of these letters are extreme heartbreakers.

I don't think so. Purchased gifts need to be dropped off at a USPS facility.

brugroffil
Nov 30, 2015


Thanks to everyone who signed up over the weekend. Letters are gone again right now. I'm guessing that adoption rates will slow down over this week since it all just started on Friday.

bus hustler
Mar 14, 2019

I'm not able to register for some reason using my real info and legal address where I've lived & received mail without problem for 5 years and am registered to vote :smith:

DarkEuphoria
Nov 7, 2012


bus hustler posted:

I'm not able to register for some reason using my real info and legal address where I've lived & received mail without problem for 5 years and am registered to vote :smith:

Yeah, I have this same problem, sucks

Bouillon Rube
Aug 6, 2009


So are all of these kids actually in need? Or are they just uploading all of the letters addressed t oSanta that show up in the postal system?

Real Mean Queen
Jun 2, 2004

Zesty.


bus hustler posted:

I'm not able to register for some reason using my real info and legal address where I've lived & received mail without problem for 5 years and am registered to vote :smith:

I’m having the same issue. I haven’t moved for ages, I get ballots, it’s weird I can’t do this. Gonna try to get the girlfriend to register, we’ll see. If not, is there a discord or something to hop on and contribute to bigger asks with? If somebody reputable has a letter that’s hard to do alone, I’d be happy to contribute something toward a group project.

brugroffil
Nov 30, 2015


Every time I check there's no available letters unless I want to somehow buy a kid a ps5


Which is good that lots of people are adopting letters I suppose!

Frog Act
Feb 10, 2012



brugroffil posted:

Every time I check there's no available letters unless I want to somehow buy a kid a ps5


Which is good that lots of people are adopting letters I suppose!

Same, all the letters I saw were asking for things I already want but can't afford. I hope those kids get their iPad 11s and iPhone 12s and Xbox Series X's and PS5s

brugroffil
Nov 30, 2015


if there keeps being nothing but requests for $500+ items by the end of the week, we could switch gears to finding some other worthwhile effort

clockworx
Oct 15, 2005
The Internet Whore made me buy this account

Rock My Socks! posted:

So are all of these kids actually in need? Or are they just uploading all of the letters addressed t oSanta that show up in the postal system?

This was my question too, and reading the FAQ I wasn’t really clear. If some random family (not in need) isn’t aware of this project at all and indulges their kid that they want to “write to Santa for an LOL doll”, would they wonder WTF is going on when it randomly arrives in the mail?

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Nothus
Feb 22, 2001

Buglord

brugroffil posted:

if there keeps being nothing but requests for $500+ items by the end of the week, we could switch gears to finding some other worthwhile effort

Yeah, I'm about to just start buying toys for a local charity and upload the receipts.

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