Just as the Holy Family struggled to find adequate shelter in challenging circumstances, many American families battered by economic downturn are in desperate straits this holiday season, and they are letting Santa know about it.

The U.S. Postal Service is accustomed to getting letters this time of year from children writing to ask Santa for toys. But postal workers report that this year more kids are asking for basics—coats, socks, shoes—and large numbers of parents in desperate straits are writing Santa on behalf of their children. “I want them to know there is hope,” wrote a single mother who is living with her kids in a shelter.

Customer relations coordinator Pete Fontana has been “head elf” at the New York City main post office for 15 years. He oversees 22 “staff elves” who will sort 2 million letters this year in Operation Santa, which connects needy children with "Secret Santas" who answer their wishes. "The need is greater this year than I've ever seen it," says Fontana. "One little girl didn't want anything for herself. She wanted a winter coat for her mother."

The story is the same elsewhere. "We saw a few last year, but it was never like this," said one of the postal clerks as she sorted hundreds of letters from desperate adults to Santa at the Brentwood postal facility in Washington, D.C.

Source: Articles by Donna Leinwand for USA TODAY and Petula Dvorak for the Washington Post