Now in its eighth year, the “Letters for Santa” mailbox outside Ocean Beach Business Center in the indoor mall at 4967 Newport Ave. is doing brisk business.

“We enjoy seeing the kids that were with us from the start grow and pass on the information and care to their younger siblings while also watching the families grow,” said Jo Peregoy who, along with her husband Chris, co-own and operates the business center and its seasonal mailbox, now a fixture in the beach community’s holiday scene.

“Many may have moved away, but they make a special trip down to OB to send their letters,” Peregoy said adding, “We’ve had letters from Alpine, Sacramento, Washington, Florida, even Germany, and of course OB and Point Loma. We’ve had calls and emails about when the mailbox gets put out, we put it out a week earlier this year just to help accommodate the families that were making special trips to the mailbox.”

A case in point is Zoey Meyers, age 6, and her little sister, now 2, who were pictured on last year’s front page of Santa’s Mailbox story. “Zoey wrote both her letter and her sister’s letter to make sure Santa is aware of how good they have been this year,” said Jo noting Zoey’s mom, Danielle, let me know “It’s an annual tradition now for the last few years. Even though they have moved farther away, they still plan a trip to mail the girls’ letters.”

Jo Peregoy enjoys playing the role every year of “Mrs. Klaus.”

“To see the joy and wonder on the kids’ faces as they come in or see the mailbox is great,” she related. “To know that it’s become an annual family tradition just warms our hearts and makes it all worth it. Especially to see it grow.”

Jo noted their Yuletide mailbox started with just 23 letters the first year that they hand-delivered. “We also hand-delivered up to year four,” she added, “but during year five is when we started mailing them out.”

The OB Santa Mailbox is always free. “We do not charge,” noted Jo. “We put out all the supplies for the kids so they don’t need to worry about paper, envelope, pen, etc.”

However, with the cost of postage and supplies increasing, the Peregoys have started fundraising for their mailbox program throughout the year.

“In years past, we had paid for this all out of pocket,” said Jo adding, “We had saved up through the year to make sure it happened by saving our tips. We did get a grant in 2020 that helped fund the mailbox. Last year, we had donations that totaled $93, which helped us a lot. This year, I won’t lie, I was worried about how we could get this going again. Of course, we had an amazing donation to get us started, and to make sure it would be in effect this year, we are forever grateful for that first donation and the continued donations to keep it going.”

Added Jo Peregoy: “Right now, we call it ‘Buy carrots for the reindeer.’ People can scan the code and donate starting at $2 to help buy snacks for the reindeer to fuel them for their travels of bringing letters and delivering gifts. In other words, helping us pay for postage.

“If people want to donate when they’re here with us, they just let us know and we add the ‘carrots’ to the total charge of their sale,” continued Jo. “It’s been very helpful with the donations. We’ve also been selling handcrafted bookmarks to again help with the cost of running the program.

“We’re doing everything we can to help keep this running. The community has come together to help as well.”

Jo said the mailbox program initially was “just me reading the letters, writing each custom letter back, printing, assembling, and creating the wax seals for them.”

But with increasing volume, “Mrs. Klaus” admits she needs helpers. “With the success of last year, we had almost 300 letters that went ‘all over the world,’ she said. “It’s become a big task for just one person. We’ve had several members of the community and groups offer their time to volunteer to write letters, assemble, help mail, and even help fundraise. We are so thankful to have the love and support of the community to make the program a success this year.”

The original goal of Letters for Santa, “Other than keeping the magic alive, was to teach children how to write letters, how to address envelopes and how to receive mail,” noted Jo Peregoy adding, “With the digital age having everything done online, some of the traditions of the past are fading. We enjoyed the experience ourselves growing up. The excitement of receiving mail – nothing compares. Being able to provide this experience is just amazing.”

There is a cut-off date of Dec. 21 this year if local for those using Santa’s mailbox to ensure participants get a return mail in time.

Santa’s requests for those sending mail via OBBC’s Mailbox – Make sure the children’s names and addresses are legible and that there’s a correct address. Many letters received already have no return address or no names, making it hard to guess what to put on the “nice certificate” to avoid any misspellings or no letter going out in return. Each response is on a shimmery, heavier, special paper that one would think comes from only the North Pole.

Those sending letters also receive a certificate showing they are on the “Nice List,” which is printed on a card stock. The front has a seasonal holiday postage stamp and a reindeer postage mark, while the back has a keepsake wax seal that is the “Official Santa Claus Seal” in a metallic red. It’s designed to be a keepsake, but if it breaks, they can also give another. Each letter costs about $2.75 to send including postage and materials and goes through standard USPS mail.