To Santa, With Love, Santa Letter
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (WLS) —For a second year, several local nursing students are dedicating their time and energy to making the holidays brighter for youngsters through Operation Santa. The students come from Ambria College in Hoffman Estates and are featured in the new Hulu docu-series “Dear Santa.”
We are nurses,” Sharon Ortega remarked, referring to the nursing school staff as “anonymous elves” who wrap gifts of happiness for children on Christmas morning. All of us at Ambria College of Nursing in Hoffman Estates have a strong sense of community and a desire to give back. In the nursing school, the teachers are known as the “anonymous elves” because they spread holiday cheer to their students and their families.
Ambria College of Nursing students in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, have participated in Operation Santa for the past few years. The United States Postal Service began the program 110 years ago.
Janice Hall, who oversaw the program in Chicago, remarked that serving the Big Boss was “a enormous responsibility.”
We’re all crying as we read the letters, so we have tissues in the back.
Thousands of children around the country write letters to Santa every year, and anonymous elves from various organizations assist make sure their dreams are fulfilled. The Ambria staff reads over a selection of the letters to see who they can assist.
Ortega admitted, “Tears are shed when we sit and read the letters.” I wish I could adopt them all, but unfortunately it is not possible.
During the height of the epidemic, two years ago, the team adopted a family in North Carolina consisting of a single mom and her two children. Although they have never met the family in person, the new series “Dear Santa” allows them to do so.
