For the past four years a bright red mailbox has hit the streets around the holidays with the intent to delight young children. Collaboration for Early Childhood sponsors the box and a whole team of elfish volunteers ply their trade to make it seem magical.
The letterbox is usually posted outside the Collaboration’s office at 171 S. Oak Park Ave. in Oak Park. But it goes on the road too, when the organization takes part in events around the area, such as Winterfest, Shop Small, and Santa Saturday.
“We exist to try to bring joy and support to families,” said Wendy Giardina, the collaborations engagement coordinator. “We also take templates to area coffee shops so that kids can fill out the letters to Santa and then they can bring them to our mailbox.”
The organization sends letters too. Using a form on the collaboration’s website, parents can request a letter from Santa or just about any character who is special to a child.
“It could be Batman; could be Bluey; could be, some of them we have to look up because we don’t really know who that is,” Giardina said. “But we do our very best. Last year we got almost 200 letter requests. We have a lot of volunteers that help us answer the letters. And it’s just one of our most joyful programs that we do.”
It’s a way for adults to emphasize something positive going on in a child’s life.
“Parents are able to shout out that their kid is potty trained or that they’re sweet to their younger brother or that they’re very kind to the new puppy they just got,” Giardina said. “That really goes a long way, when you get it from Santa or whomever your hero in life is.”
The Collaboration for Early Childhood was established in 2002. It is both publicly and privately funded with the goal to cultivate the whole child from birth to the age of five.
“There really wasn’t any sort of attention paid to anything that happened before kindergarten,” Giardina said. “It was just, oh, those are little kids. But as we all now realize, 90% of brain development happens before you’re five years old.”
When the organization isn’t coordinating mail, it also supports early learning professionals working in childcare, day care and preschools.
“We try to find ways to help them,” Giardina said. “Get support for things that they need. We do professional development for them. We also support parents of children zero to five with parenting workshops and groups and tons of activities in the community.”
Though they enjoy the interaction at Christmastime, the organization tries to highlight as many holidays as they can.
“We’re always looking to find people to help us,” Giardina said. “We recently celebrated Diwali. We had a family come and help us set that up. We try to shout out every holiday that we possibly can with the goal of being inclusive.”
Connect with the North Pole: collab4kids.org
