WARM HEARTS TAKE CHILL OUT OF NORTH POLE TEEN VOLUNTEERS HELP SANTA CLAUS ANSWER HIS LETTERS.

Byline: Judy O'Rourke Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Fueled by pizza and youthful enthusiasm, a band of Santa's elves fashioned Christmas gifts that included nary a truck, doll or bike.

Their gift was words. The volunteers answered scores of letters written to Santa Claus by children - some asking for toys, others for more transcendent gifts.

``Some ask for love and happiness with their family,'' said 16-year-old volunteer Allison Kajimoto, an 11th-grader who recruited three school pals from Chaminade College Preparatory in the San Fernando Valley. About 30 volunteers, ranging in age from about 12 to 16, hunkered down in the Santa Clarita Sports Complex activity room for three hours Monday night to answer about 500 letters. Holiday music played in the background.

The Santa stand-ins took no shortcuts. They embellished papers and envelopes with rainbow-hue markers, doodling, drawings and cute stickers.

More volunteers had signed up, but some backed out at the last minute to study for finals, said Susana Campbell, the city's supervisor for volunteer programs.

Some volunteers showed up solo to answer letters; others came in civic or religious groups.

City leaders launched the letter-writing program several years ago. Kajimoto has picked up the Santa pen for a couple of years and says it is her favorite volunteer activity. She likes to decorate letters with little Christmas trees and snowmen.

``It's good for the kids who write,'' she said. ``(It gives them) hope for their family and what they want.''

A letter from a little boy who asked for gifts for everyone but himself touched 16-year-old Jenna Perea, an 11th-grader at Canyon High School.

``He wanted cologne for his dad, grandpa and uncle,'' she said. Another child told Santa to have a happy Christmas.

Fourteen-year-old Cameron Becker, a ninth-grader at Canyon, was most impressed by a child who took the time to write but did not ask for gifts.

In a letter penned in green ink on stationery with a snowy blue border and snowman stickers, Santa replied: ``I've been watching you grow up for so long now, and you've become such a wonderful young woman. I am glad you and your family are doing well together. Family is always most important.''

Santa signed off by saying Mrs. Claus is calling him to sample her fresh-baked cookies. His signature, formed in big looping letters, is in red.

The letters arrive courtesy of the U.S. Postal Service. The postal processing and distribution center in Castaic is deluged with up to 15,000 Santa letters each year.

Volunteers are given letters that warrant a thoughtful or encouraging reply, and the postal agency recruits people to ``adopt'' youngsters who are identified as needy, said Jody Martin, a consumer affairs clerk.

The volunteer letter writers pay postage costs.

Letters trickle in throughout the year - often thanking the man in the red suit for his generosity - but the volume picks up just before Thanksgiving. Postal employees often answer letters that arrive at the last minute or just after Christmas.

The Castaic postal center began the Santa-letter program about 16 years ago, Martin said. The center serves a district that includes the cities of Duarte, Burbank, Glendale, the San Fernando and Antelope valleys and Bakersfield, Mammoth Lakes and up the coast to San Luis Obispo.

A special red postmark is stamped on Santa letters that are mailed from the Castaic center. It depicts an elf holding a sign that says ``Merry Christmas, Santa's Helpers Station, Santa Clarita, CA 91383.''

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4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Stacks of colorfully decorated envelopes from the North Pole, above, await being filled with letters written by Santa's helper volunteers, including Berlyn Abrego, 15, above right, deep in thought.

(3 -- color) Claire Frederickson, left, talks with Madi White about how, as Santa's helpers, they are answering letters the U.S. Postal Service received from hopeful children. The girls, both 13, are writers in the Santa Clarita Volunteen program.

(4) Volunteer Claire Frederickson, 13, makes sure her writing is neat, as well as heartfelt, in responding as a Santa's helper to one of the hundreds of Christmas letters the Santa Clarita postal center receives from kids in a far-flung district.

David Crane/Staff Photographer