Philadelphia mailman brings Christmas magic to life with letters from Santa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A Northeast Philadelphia mailman is making a list and checking it twice this holiday season.
Anthony Picariello, known to most as "Stitch," is wrapping up his 28th year on the job.
He's worked all over the city, from Roxborough to South Philadelphia before coming to Bustleton.
"I love being out there with the people and being out in the streets," Picariello said.
While he certainly loves his job, it's a secondary gig he picked up that gives him the most joy.
"I said, what better place to mail a letter to Santa than the post office?" he said. "So I came up with the idea to put it in the lobby, and it just blew up."
Starting on Black Friday, Santa — also known as Stitch — gets to work.
First, he sets up a Santa letter writing station in the Bustleton Post Office lobby, complete with stickers, pens and paper. Before long, the mailbox is filled with letters to Kris Kringle at the North Pole. This year he's gotten nearly 200 letters.
"Every year it's gotten bigger and bigger," he said.
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After coming home from work and tucking his youngest in bed, the mail carrier spends hours reading the letters and personalizing each response from Santa.
"I go through the things they wrote and I also tell the parents that they can include certain things [like what makes] you proud of them and things they did this year," Picariello said. "I personalize each one as much as I can, and then I put the stickers on and I make it really look as real as possible."
He even stamps the envelopes before popping them back in the mail.
"I have it all set up on my table and I have to make sure she's not going to come down and see it, so probably I'm usually up after midnight every night in December," he said.
This Northeast Santa started his workshop during the pandemic. It was then Picariello's two daughters were worried Santa wouldn't get their letters because the mall was closed.
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"My kids always knew I was a mail carrier and they would give me the letter to Santa, and I said I would take it to him," he said.
Santa's letters are mailed back to kids living everywhere from Philly to Virginia Beach. One child even sent a letter in Russian and — with a little help — Santa Stitch translated it and wrote back.
"Christmas is always a time of giving and people do nice things, and I just I hope people see what I do," Picariello said. "I always get people messaging me or texting me and say you inspired me to do this or do more...I don't do it for the recognition."
Giving back is in his DNA. Picariello also collects costumes during Halloween to donate to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The hospital is where his youngest daughter spent weeks after being born and undergoing surgery.
"When she was getting better, we [Picariello and his wife] both said to ourselves, we're always going to get back to CHOP as much as we can," he said.
In the spring, the National Association of Letter Carriers named him "Humanitarian of the Year," an award given annually to only one mail carrier in the country.
With four days left until Christmas, Santa's work isn't done yet. After one last check in the mailbox, he found two more letters.
"This one is local, I'll be able to do that tonight," he said.
As for next holiday season, Picariello said he can't wait to send out even more letters to kids around the country.
"I have two girls, so I get to see them open [the letters] and they think it's from Santa, so I get to see [their] faces," he said with a smile. "People send me messages and pictures and videos of their kids, and it just keeps me going ... You can't beat it."
