Where Do the Letters in Santa’s Stony Brook Mailbox Go?

 It’s hard to plead your case as a good boy or girl through a tweet or text so each year kids the world over put pen to paper and write to Santa to make their Christmas wish come true and in Stony Brook, the honored tradition even has its own mailbox dedicated to just one man- Santa. But did you ever wonder just where those letters go?

Patch decided to see if they could pull back the curtain and find out just how those letters get answered. Spoiler alert-if you are still enchanted by the magic of Christmas you may want to move on to the next story.

The red mailbox placed outside the Stony Brook post office in Stony Brook village was put there by the Ward Melville Heritage Organization but the folks at the post office take it upon themselves to answer as many as they can, according to Anthony Fazio, who works at the village post office who said they enjoy reading the letters and try to get to them all.

“Some kids don’t want anything. They ask us to give their gifts to less fortunate kids and some write a list you can’t believe including asking for cash!” said Fazio. “It’s an amazing thing.” 

Fazio said the letters don’t just come from kids in Stony Brook either. Folks come from St. James to Smithtown, Port Jefferson to Centereach. 

“Everyone knows about the mailbox,” said Fazio.

A few years back, Fazio said they received a letter from a little girl who wrote down how her mom and dad had no money and had asked for just one thing. An employee at the time by the name of Lynn was so touched that she went out and got the girl her present and left it on her porch.

“Every year we try to do one nice thing,” said Fazio.

His one piece of advice to getting a response from Santa?

“Make sure you leave your address. So many kids forget to put it on their letter.”