ATHOL — Thanks to the hard work of Athol Postmaster Gregory A. Goodhile, along with Stephanie Cook, owner of Scrafty Custom Signs located on Main Street, local children have a direct connection with Santa.
Goodhile and Cook refurbished an old letter drop box and have set it out in the lobby at 242 Main Street where youngsters can deposit their personal letters to the jolly old elf.
Goodhile said, “There was an old blue drop box in the boiler room at the post office for years that I always thought would make a good Santa box. About a month ago I had to go down and restart the boiler and noticed it.” He took the box home, stripped off the old paint, sanded it down and repainted it with the festive colors of Christmas.
With the help of Cook, who affixed the snowflakes, Santa and candy cane decals, and completed the fancy lettering, the new Santa Letter box was completed and put in place Monday. “I told her to use her imagination. It came out great,” he said. “We have already received a half a dozen or so letters. As Christmas nears, we expect to get many more.”
Letters can be dropped off Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Goodhile said every child who submits a letter will receive a personal reply from Santa. Return letters will be postmarked December 2018 directly from the North Pole with the ZIP code 99705.
The deadline to drop off letters is Friday, Dec. 21.