A Christmas Charity — Be An Elf's Story
Meet Be An Elf
The idea for Be An Elf came on Christmas eve, 2004, when longtime USPS® Operation Santa ® volunteer Hans Dohm invited his friend Patrick Reynolds to accompany him on his gift deliveries to the homes of 10 needy families. In those days, children’s addresses were not redacted from their letters to Santa, so volunteers who adopted letters could deliver the gifts to families in person. Patrick wondered why he not heard of the USPS® program, and took some photos of the excited kids receiving the gifts from Santa.
“I was moved by the surprise and delight on children’s faces as we delivered Hans’ gifts,” Elf Patrick said. “I wanted more people to know about the USPS® Operation Santa ® program.” Within a few days, he got the idea to form a new website and non-profit, which he initially dubbed Make a Christmas Wish. He put up a new website using the photos he took, and those photos are still on our Photos page. All are real kids and parents who wrote to Santa. Later Patrick changed the name to Be An Elf.
Patrick also shot video of Hans reading letters at a postal branch, shopping for gifts, an interview with Hans which provided a good voiceover. Most important, he filmed Hans delivering his gifts to needy families on Christmas eve, 2006. A professional video editor volunteered to cut the footage, and the original Be An Elf video was posted on YouTube and also at this site in November, 2007. Later, a video in HD was made with new volunteers. Both videos are out of date since the letters to Santa program first went online in November, 2019, but they do capture the experience of volunteering for this. To see those early videos, see Be An Elf’s YouTube Channel. While you’re there, please like and subscribe!
Patrick Reynolds, volunteer and Elf in Chief, BeAnElf.org, reading letters in the Los Angeles Operation Letters to Santa ® room, December, 2013
In 2008, to help protect the privacy of children, the Postal Service® began removing their family names and addresses from their letters to Santa. The program went fully online in 2020, and when people adopt a letter to Santa, volunteers print it out, along with a barcoded shipping label. Volunteers will never be given a families home addresses, and must mail their packages using the barcoded label. The wonderful USPS® delivers the gifts directly to the family who wrote to Santa.
These days only postal workers are permitted to deliver gifts from volunteers to children’s homes, but the smiles on Christmas morning remain the same.
Be An Elf applied for non-profit status in 2009, and in 2010 the group was approved as a tax-exempt 501c3 organization. Google has the vision to provide a in-kind grants to thousands of non-profits, and give recipients $10,000 per month in free advertising year round.
In 2012 Be An Elf’s news release was picked up by the Today Show, which ran a segment about the USPS® program. At the end they mentioned BeAnElf.org as an online guide to USPS® Operation Santa ®.
With the donations that came in, our group was able to update and re-design this website that year, and produce a new video for our home page. It’s dated now that the program is fully online, but the video is still posted on the Be An Elf YouTube channel.
We’re an all-volunteer, 501c3 non-profit group. Donations are tax-deductible, and will increase the number of volunteers we recruit and the number of children’s letters we adopt every year.
We also need funds for a new Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign, for which we hope to hire top SEO consultant Brady Mills. Our goal will be to have search phrases like “volunteer at Christmas,” “children’s charities” and “Christmas charities,” “need help with Christmas,” and others come up high in the search results on the major search engines.
We’ve raised enough to retain the digital ad agency, Cause Inspired, and they maintains our $10,000 per month in-kind grant from Google for free advertising on Google. They also keep our account in compliance.
We’d also like to hire a Social Media marketing agency to introduce us to influencers who will help us get altitude every December on Tiktok, Instagram, and other social media. This is a great story for them!
We’d also like to retain a good public relations firm. During the holidays every year, Be An Elf puts out two or three news releases, and we post them at this site on our Press Releases page. You’ll find our latest releases are at the top of this page. With a PR firm, our news releases will get increased coverage and expand our mission and goals.
Be An Elf’s news releases mostly urge the press to cover the USPS® Operation Santa® program, and we only ask for a mention of BeAnElf.org at the end of coverage as a good guide for people who want to volunteer, or need help with Christmas this year.
Our first news release of the season aims to create awareness of the program among people who need assistance for the holidays. We urge the media to let people who need help with Christmas know that there are volunteers out there who might respond with gifts for their kids. We include a link to our Seeking Gifts? page, a great resource for parents seeking help with Christmas.
At the top of that page, we’ve included a message to kids reassuring them that USPS® staff always forward their letters along the same day to the North Pole.
Our second news release every season aims at creating public awareness of USPS® Operation Santa ®. We want to let more people know about it, and recruit volunteers.
A top Hollywood publicist with movie star clients would very likely be able to get a film star to volunteer to adopt a letter from home, with press invited. It would likely be covered by outlets like People Magazine, Access Hollywood, and other entertainment shows.
Budget permitting, we will also send a news release to financial media outlets letting them know about our Plan for Companies, which is aimed at getting corporate employees to volunteer and build teams to adopt a family for Christmas.
Having a good public relations firm working with us would be a huge plus. With that, we might even be able to get a Hollywood star or two to publicly adopt a letter online.
As donations come in to our group, it empowers us to adopt more letters ourselves, and to recruit new volunteers for the Operation Santa program. They will in turn answer more children’s letters, with the end result that more needy children will be smiling come Christmas morning. Donations by the public fuel Be An Elf’s mission and goals.
Today, Elf Hans Dohm lives in South Carolina. Elf Patrick Reynolds lives in Los Angeles and serves year round as Executive Director of the Tobaccofree Earth.
Be An Elf is a separate non-profit 501c3 group he also founded.
Be An Elf’s mission is to bring a brighter Christmas to thousands of underprivileged children and their families; to recruit new volunteers for the USPS® Operation Santa® program; and to fill our volunteers and their families with the true spirit of Christmas. We’re also a resource for the needy families whose kids mail letters to Santa.
Who our volunteers are
Every year there are “elves” who read children’s letters to Santa online at USPSoperationSanta.com. They select a letter or two to adopt, and then mail the children or family gifts. One little girl wrote,
My family is not perfect. My Mom needs money to pay bills. She believes in what we have. I believe in what’s in my heart. Our furniture don’t match. Our fridge and oven don’t work a little. She prays for me. My Mom is sad. Please help.
Sincerely, Katrina
Moms, some feeling alone and sad at Christmas, also write letters to Santa every year, in hopes of getting needed clothing or toys for their kids.
Some volunteers also feel sad and alone over the holidays, and discover inspiration and comfort in the wonderful USPS ® program.
Others have families and bring their kids to read letters, to teach them the meaning of Christmas. Of course they assure their children that the letters are forwarded on to Santa on the very same day they are made available online for volunteers to adopt. These kind people are sending an extra gift or two because their parents are struggling financially, but Santa will certainly deliver his gifts to them, too!
Letters to Santa are written not only by kids, but also by single moms who may know about the program and do not have enough money to buy their kids presents for Christmas.
Lauren Psovsky of Brooklyn, NY, found out about the program through BeAnElf.org in December, 2009. She invited friends to a Christmas party at her home, and asked each guest to bring a gift for a child. The following Christmas season, she got her whole apartment building involved.
By organizing a group, Lauren was able to delegate the work of visiting the post office and choosing letters to Santa, shopping for the gifts, wrapping them all and then returning to the postal branch to mail them. She had a pretty memorable Christmas party!
Be An Elf has also received a major grant from Google, which awarded the 501c3 group an in-kind grant of $10,000 per month in free advertising. This makes the www.BeAnElf.org easy to find on the web.
The photos just below show volunteers delivering gifts on Christmas eve, 2004, when children’s return addresses were still on the envelopes. The program is now fully online, and it’s no longer possible to deliver gifts in person. To protect children’s privacy, the USPS® removes children’s return addresses, numbers each letter, and asks volunteers to mail their gifts. Postal workers take over the Elf role and deliver them.
Delivering gifts on Christmas Eve, 2004. BeAnElf.org volunteer Elf Patrick is on the right. It’s no longer possible to deliver gifts in person; to protect children’s privacy, the USPS ® now removes return addresses, numbers each letter, and asks volunteers to mail their gifts. The smiles and surprise on the children’s faces remain the same!
Hans Dohm brightens a mother’s Christmas. This single mother broke down and cried upon receiving “Santa’s” delivery on Christmas Eve. She said, “I had no money to buy gifts for my children this year. This is wonderful! Thank you!”
BeAnElf.org’s volunteers buy gifts for children with fewer privileges than other kids.
What to expect
If you volunteer, you will likely need to show a photo ID at the front entrance and sign a form requiring a verified address, in order to get access to the “North Pole” room where Santa letters are available.
The USPS® Operation Letters to Santa ® program is not available in all US cities. See our Directory of Operation Santa Branches to learn whether it’s offered in your city or State. Even in large cities like New York, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles, the program is offered at only one postal branch. Some are open only two days per week, for only two hours per day. Each branch manager sets the hours. The program ends one to five days before Christmas, depending on the branch.
At participating USPS® postal branches, volunteers select one or more letters to Santa. To protect children, postal workers will have removed the children’s return addresses, and replaced them with a number.
After purchasing your gifts for the family, return to the same branch with your package wrapped for mailing, and mail your presents “from Santa”.
Our volunteers will often buy something for the Moms and siblings, too. Many needy children live with a single Mom, and may have brothers and sisters, who are often mentioned in kids’ letters.
Companies also can take a larger number of letters and bring them back to employees wishing to participate.
Hans Dohm was one such elf for many years. Every year in December, Hans would visit the Los Angeles South Central Post Office branch at Florence Ave and Gage. He would select as many as 10 letters to Santa which were clearly written by children or Moms in need. Katrina’s letter, above, was one of the letters he selected in 2004.
Hans and his friend Julie would then shop for gifts, wrap them at home, and make sure they were delivered by Christmas eve. The YouTube video of Hans on our home page was filmed by Elf Patrick in December, 2006.
Be An Elf hopes to inspire you to join us and do what Hans did for so many years — Be an Elf for Santa at Christmas!
The Postal Service® calls its wonderful program Operation Santa, and the venerable USPS® has been making children’s letters available to the public for charitable purposes since 1912.
The USPS® sends out press releases every year; Be An Elf hopes to support them by letting more people know about the USPS® program. Be An Elf is not affiliated in any way with the USPS®.
Every year around December first, the USPS® offers an updated list of participating postal branches. For the most recent one, please see the National Directory of Operation Santa Branches.
Be An Elf’s goal and mission is to bring a brighter, happier Christmas to thousands of underprivileged children and their families.
In the future we wish to offer a list of orphanages and organizations serving them, where gifts could also be sent or personally delivered.
To achieve our goals, we are now seeking private donors and corporate sponsors.
If you wish, take a look at our other future plans. Many thanks for taking time to learn more about our group.
If you’d like to volunteer to be an Elf, please see our How to volunteer page.
If you don’t have time to volunteer, please further our mission and make a gift online, anonymously if you like.
Another way to contribute is to give by check.
Your gift to Be An Elf will further our mission of recruiting new volunteers and putting smiles on more young faces on Christmas morning.
Join us and become an Elf!
