Show Notes
In the 1910s, the New York City Post Office was having trouble delivering children's letters addressed to Santa Claus. So every Christmas, thousands of letters went unanswered. Then in 1913, an charming businessman named John Duval Gluck, Jr. started a new charity, “The Santa Claus Association" to fix this problem. The organization was a group of volunteers who responded to children’s letters, and sent the neediest ones to affluent Manhattanites who would provide gifts. The charity became an immediate hit, and garnered attention from celebrities and politicians alike. That is, until the charity became a real money maker and Gluck's ambitions got the best of him.
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