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Several communities in Northern Kentucky have enlisted Santa’s helpers to gather letters from local kids and send them to the North Pole. Santa will even write them back, but local families will have act quickly because many of the deadlines to send letters is approaching.
“Santa’s got to have time to get them mailed out to everybody,” said Rhona Ritzi, Kenton County Recreation Program Coordinator and Santa’s helper with the county.
Kenton County itself has seven drop off locations for letters, listed below. Monday, Dec. 15 is the last day to drop off letters. Families will need to include a stamped return envelope with the kid’s name so Santa can write back. Families can also send letters online at bit.ly/kcsantaletters.
Boone County has a similar program, as well, but it’s program is all online. Ben Olidges, deputy director of Boone County Parks and Santa’s helper in Boone County, said this enabled them to collect more specific information about each kid so that Santa and his helpers could better customize their responses.
“We kind of ask, like, what is the participant? What are they interested in? What are they asking for Christmas?” Oldiges said. “Just certain things like that… What are some of their pets names? It’s just another detail that we can add into the letter to make it just a little bit more personal.”
Boone County’s deadline is also Monday, Dec. 15, and there is a $5 fee. Visit Boone County’s registration page (linked below) to pay and fill out a form you can mail to the Parks Department.
Several cities also have their own programs, including Covington and Fort Wright, whose deadlines are Dec. 18 and Dec. 31, respectively. Drop off locations for those cities is also listed below.
When asked what the kids seem to be asking for this year, this answer is what you’d expect: toys!
“The majority of it is all what toys they want for Christmas,” Ritzi said.
Some of the older kids, Oldiges said, will occasionally ask for electronics, but it’s still mostly toys.
“It just really depends on the kid, really depends on the age range,” Oldiges said. “I think a little bit older the kids are getting, the more technical items that they’ve been requesting. The younger they are, the more toy based [it is.]”
“Some of the letters will also ask how Santa’s doing,” Ritzi said. “Or how things at the North Pole? Or they let Santa know that they’ve been a good girl or boy.”
Check out locations and deadlines for letter drop offs below.
Location Deadline Boone County (online, click here) Monday, Dec. 15 Kenton County Government Center at 1840 Simon Kenton Way in Covington Monday, Dec. 15 Kenton County Animal Services at 1020 Mary Laidley Drive in Covington Monday, Dec. 15 Historic Kenton County Courthouse at 5272 Madison Pike in Independence Monday, Dec. 15 Kenton County Public Library Covington at 502 Scott Boulevard Monday, Dec. 15 Kenton County Public Library Erlanger at 401 Kenton Lands Road in Erlanger Monday, Dec. 15 Kenton County Public Library Independence at 1992 Walton-Nicholson Road in Independence Monday, Dec. 15 Kenton County Public Library Latonia at 3911 Winston Avenue in Covington Monday, Dec. 15 Lakeside Park City Building at 9 Buttermilk Pike in Lakeside Park Monday, Dec. 15 Covington City Hall at 20 West Pike Street in Covington Wednesday, Dec. 18 Fort Wright City Building at 409 Kyles Lane in Fort Wright Wednesday, Dec. 31
Did we miss any locations? Send us an email at news@linknky.com, and we’ll update our list.