ELVES AT THE POST OFFICE? : VOLUNTEERS ANSWER MAIL, ARRANGE HELP.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer

``Dear Santa: My mom is a single parent. My daddy is in jail, and has been since my mom was five months with me. It's been very hard for her to do the things she wants for me, but she does her best,'' signed, a 5-year-old.

For the past eight years, U.S. postal worker Stacia Crane has read thousands of letters like this one and helped fulfill the wishes of children and adults alike - all for the sake of keeping the mystical spirit of Old St. Nick alive.

Each day during the month of December, Crane and others individually read about 100 letters addressed to the ``North Pole, U.S.A.'' or ``Up to the sky'' from children throughout the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys as well as from Burbank, Pasadena and Oxnard.

They're carrying on a tradition for the U.S. mail service that began at the turn of the century, Crane said.

This year, the Santa Clarita Processing and Distribution Plant expects to receive from 10,000 to 15,000 letters addressed to Santa Claus, said Crane, manager of the Consumer Affairs and Claims Department for the U.S. Postal Service in Santa Clarita.

Around Christmastime, people at the plant refer to their workplace as ``Santa Central.''

The children are very thoughtful, sending in price lists, coupons with pictures of what they desire, and some even send some coins to help out, said Crane's co-worker, Jackie Bradford, who volunteered along with hundreds of others in the community to read the Santa letters.

The program's costs come strictly from volunteers' pockets, and postal workers who choose to volunteer must complete the program's work on the side of the regular workload.

Every boy and girl with a return address gets a letter back. Those identified as needy families will receive gifts, Crane said. Postal carriers help identify the more critical cases.

Crane grows teary-eyed while reading many of the letters and finds that most of the children ask for very little: underwear, pants and socks, something warm, or a place to sleep other than the floor.

``When you read them, you do realize that you want to help them all,'' Crane said.

Those who help out include teachers, community groups, church members, businesses and individuals.

The volunteers often deliver the gifts to a family's door, referring to themselves as ``Santa's helpers.''

Crane recalled a businessman who paid for a family's natural gas bills because they were without heat, Crane said.

One boy asked Santa for warm clothes and a job for his father, Crane said. A volunteer contractor responded by providing gifts for the family, and eventually hired the father as a carpenter.

Crane said the contractor later told her: ``He's now a manager for me. . . . I'm so close to the family now. He's the best worker I've ever had.''

Crane's favorite letter this year comes from a 12-year-old who explains about how his family has no money for the holidays because of his uncle's death.

The letter reads in part: ``We just lost our uncle a few days ago and we had to pay for the funeral and the awake (sic.) We won't be celebrating Christmas. . . . My mom is fighting cancer. . . . We all hope you could make our dreams come true. Thanks Santa Claus, and I believe in you.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--ran in SIMI, CONEJO and SAC editions--color in SAC) Postal worker Stacia Crane enjoys keeping the spirit of St. Nick alive by volunteering to answer children's letters to Santa.

(2--ran in SIMI, CONEJO and SAC editions--color in SAC) These letters at the Santa Clarita processing center will not go unanswered, thanks toa corps of volunteers from the U.S. Postal Service and throughout the community.

Shaun Dyer / Special to the Daily News