The United States Postal Service program is called Operation Santa.
Operation Santa allows people to adopt and respond to letters addressed to Santa Claus. The program grew from the Postal Service’s long-running practice of handling children’s letters sent to the North Pole. Participating postal workers may open letters and, under the program’s rules, help connect them with donors who can provide gifts.
The initiative is not the same as a fictional postal route to Santa’s home. It is a real community-participation program administered through the USPS, with privacy and eligibility procedures designed for public involvement.
The program’s name is sometimes confused with “Letters to Santa,” a general phrase used for many local or national projects. Operation Santa specifically identifies the USPS initiative in the United States and has been modernized through online participation as well as traditional post-office activities.