Generous Chicago Couple Once Again Working To Answer Kids' Letters To Santa
(CBS) -- Some are typed, others handwritten and all are heartbreaking: Letters to Santa from children asking for basic items most of us take for granted.
CBS 2's Jim Williams reports the annual Operation Santa post office campaign again is being helped by an especially generous Chicago couple.
Fixtures in the lobby of the main post office include a choir, Santa, and Jennifer Jones and Matt Beresh.
The married couple has a big job combing through as many as 1,000 letters to Santa, with help from friends Ashley Jones and Lynn Immerman.
"We got a letter from a kid graduating high school and said, I just want a suit. I just want to wear a suit at my high school graduation," said Matt Beresh said.
A box of tissues is nearby for the tears. So often, the kids ask not for themselves.
One of the letters reads, "My dad needs cologne and he needs clippers so he can cut our hair because there's not enough money for us all to go to the barbershop."
More than a decade ago, Jennifer and Matt started the charity "There really is a Santa Claus" taking the most poignant letters and then buying gifts and personally getting them to the families.
"I absolutely look forward to this," Beresh said. "This is the way we give back the most to our community.
If you'd like to help Matt and Jennifer make it easy, go to ThereReallyIsASantaClaus.org. You buy the gifts and the couple will make sure the kids get them, or you can make a financial donation.
