One mom sent a turn-off notice from the electric company, Fontana says. A single mother of a girl, 8, and a boy, 2, wrote that she recently lost her job. “I am unable to buy my children toys and clothes,” she said. “Santa may you help me with my family?”

Tough times are shrinking the number of Secret Santas, Fontana says. Meanwhile, “the percentage of people who need help has increased,” says Mark Reynolds at the Postal Service’s Chicago district, and about half the letters won’t get answered.

Melanney, 9, asked Santa for a coat and boots. “I have been a very good girl this year,” she wrote.