Kind postwoman responds to child's letter to Santa asking for "food and clothing for family"

When it comes to making Christmas wishlists, some children can get, well, quite demanding. From asking for the newest gaming consoles to expensive toys, a Christmas wishlist is where a child lets their parents know of their grandest desires. Some lucky kids even get exactly what they want on Christmas morning. However, sometimes, the kinds of things that children ask for can be really heartbreaking. For example, one child recently asked Santa for a "very good" dad after he and his mom ran away from home due to domestic abuse. Now, another letter to Santa written by a nine-year-old is going viral online for equally touching reasons, Yahoo! Lifestyle reports.

It all began when Melissa Stinsman, a mail carrier for the Bloomsburg Post Office in Pennsylvania, found a letter written to Santa from a young boy. Stinsman frequently responds to letters written to Santa Claus from little children during the holiday season, a hobby she has taken a liking to over the years. After her post station collects these children's letters in a special mailbox, she will voluntarily spend about four hours after her shift responding to them from her home, that is, the "North Pole." She told Yahoo! Lifestyle in an interview, "I usually tell the kids to keep up their grades and to listen to their parents. One asked for a science kit so I told him that one day, he could become a scientist."

As she was responding to these letters on Monday, she stumbled upon one from a nine-year-old boy in her small neighborhood. While the typical requests were there — Roblox toys, a trampoline, and Legos, for instance — there were also two requests that broke her heart. Towards the end of the list, the boy had asked Santa for "food for family" and "clothing for family." The nine-year-old wrote in his letter, "Dear Santa, I am going to star the top three items I really want." In addition to marking the two necessities, he also marked a phone and a trampoline. Kids will, of course, be kids, after all!

There were two other letters in the same envelope. One, from the same boy, read, "Dear Santa, last year you didn’t notice me, so I hope this year you notice me, and this year I will be good. I pinkie promise..." The other letter was from his five-year-old brother. Upon reading the letters, Stinsman was moved to tears. The 26-year-old postwoman stated, "When I read the letter, I cried." Therefore, she decided to chip in however she could. Though the letter had no return address, it did include the boy's full name. After asking around a little bit, she was able to find the family's home and drop by.

At first, Stinsman was hesitant and knocked on their front door with caution. But ultimately, she was glad that she did. "I said, ‘Hi, this sounds weird but I work for the post office and I got your son’s letter. I’d like to help you guys this year," she explained. "The mom said, ‘Is this real?’" Initially, the kind postwoman planned to give the family a $50 gift card. Instead, she started a money pool; the whole community came together to donate money, toys, food, and clothing. She said, "We raised about $500 and people dropped off food at the post office." Additionally, Stinsman plans to deliver gift cards to a local grocery store early enough so the family has enough time to prepare a hearty Christmas dinner. Meanwhile, the rest of the packages will be delivered on Christmas Eve. "I hope the kids will be distracted when I come," she stated. "I want them to believe they came from Santa." In the future, Stinsman hopes this becomes an annual Christmas tradition in the community. "It’s doable if everyone comes together," she said.