This holiday season, foster children of all ages across Los Angeles County will receive more than 2,000 gifts from U.S. Postal Service (USPS) workers in a tradition that dates back nearly 40 years.
Participating USPS employees delivered the multitude of presents – which are donated by the workers themselves – to the Van Nuys office of the LA County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) on Dec. 10.
California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers escorted some of the workers while en route to drop off the gifts. Last year, the CHP joined the USPS to help to add to the number of gifts for DCFS foster youth, making holiday wishes “come true for even more kids – from age 0 to our nonminor dependents up to age 21,” said Candice Price, children services administrator for DCFS.
“The kids always get very excited, especially because these are toys and gifts that they actually requested, so it’s like Santa is fulfilling their requests for Christmas.” The kids fill out tags listing their gift wishes, which can include traditional toys, like dolls, Hot Wheels and board games, as well as bicycles, electronics, sports jerseys, fragrances and gift cards.
Quillan Chambers, customer relations coordinator for USPS, said they accept the gift request tags from DCFS and distribute them to “as many of our USPS stations that want to participate.”
“This year I had stations from as far as Santa Barbara participating to help make sure that as many kids as possible are able to get the gifts they’re looking for,” explained Chambers, adding that USPS workers in a variety of positions take part in the yearly collaboration with DCFS, including postal clerks, mail carriers, maintenance technicians and upper management staff.
