“Operation Santa” Resumes After Privacy Breach

Operation Santa is resuming at the post office.

The program in which volunteers reply to children's letters to Santa was suspended after what the Postal Service said was a "privacy breach" in New York on Tuesday.

In that incident a postal worker recognized one of the volunteers as a registered sex offender. A postal inspector retrieved the child's letter before the individual could answer it.

Postal workers stepped in to handle the replies while the public volunteer effort was suspended, postal spokeswoman Sue Brennan said Friday.

The volunteer program will resume in New York and Chicago, she said, with the public able to see the letters but not the child's name or address. They can then write a response, buy a gift and return it to a postal clerk, who will match the response to the original letter and send it to the child.

While the program operates in many metropolitan areas across the country, most have finished it for the year, Brennan said. But Chicago and New York still have enough volume to continue into next week.