Kokua Line: Is it too late to write to Santa Claus?

Question: Is that “letter to Santa” program for homeless children only? If not, is it too late to send a letter?

Answer: No, the U.S. Postal Service’s Operation Santa program is not limited to homeless or formerly homeless children — lots of kids have wishes to fulfill and all are welcome. No, it’s not too late to participate; letters must be postmarked no later than Friday, Dec. 10. “We’d love to see more keiki write letters and more residents adopt those letters,” said Duke Gonzales, USPS spokesman in Hawaii.

Here are details:

>> To write a letter: Address your letter to Santa Claus, 123 Elf Road, North Pole 88888. The envelope must be stamped with first-class postage (Forever stamp) and contain your complete return address. Put your first and last name and return address on the letter too. The letter must be legible. Be specific in your gift requests, including sizes, styles and colors of clothing, for example, or the names of specific toys, books or games. The program’s website (see below) has letter-writing templates. Letters must be postmarked no later than Friday, Dec. 10.

>> To give a gift: Go to USPSOperationSanta.com, read letters to Santa and choose one or more holiday wishes to fulfill; letters can be filtered by state. Create a free account on the site and verify your identity. Purchase gifts and mail as instructed (gift-givers receive details through the online accounts they create). Letters from children and families are posted to the website twice a day, at 5 a.m. and 3 p.m. Hawaii time. Letters are removed once “adopted,” so please fulfill commitments.

Q: If I help my grandson write a letter, will his name and address be online? Will he for sure get a gift?

A: No, his identity will not be posted online. “Every letter writer’s personally identifiable information is redacted — last names, addresses, school or community names, etc., are blacked out on the letter that is posted,” the program says on its website. “The sender of the gift does not know the (personally identifiable information) of the letter writer.”

As for your second question, Operation Santa doesn’t guarantee that all holiday wishes will come true, but last year every legible letter from Hawaii with a complete return address was adopted, according to news reports.

Q: Regarding the Honolulu airport remodel, now that the rental car facility has been finished and the Ewa wing is finished, I still haven’t seen anything about the new location for the lower cost long-term parking area that used to be there. Also, where is the Hawaiian Airlines drive-thru check-in? Were those two things moved? If so, where are they now? Or have they been lost altogether? Both were extremely convenient for us locals.

A: They’re gone for good. Here’s the response from Shelly Kunishige, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation. Conrac refers to Consolidated Rent-a-Car facility:

“Following the completion of the work to restore the area that housed the Interim Conrac, there will be 727 parking stalls returned to the public on the airport property. The current daily rate of $18 a day is almost half what similar airports in other states charge. There are also nearby private lots offering long-term parking. For our airport lots we do not have offerings beyond 30 days to streamline identification of abandoned vehicles and ensure parking is available to travelers. In short, the former Lot B will not be rebuilt on airport property. We offered it as economy parking to maximize revenue when Go! ceased operations. Please note that nationwide, economy lots are not typically located on prime airport property. Usually economy offerings are able to operate because there is a trade-off in proximity and convenience. Regarding … the Hawaiian Airlines drive-thru check-in, this was removed to make room for the Mauka Concourse extension. Given available space and the improvement in online check-in and curbside baggage drop-offs, there are no plans to reconstruct the drive-thru check- in.”

Hawaiian Airlines offers expedited “touchless check-in” at the Honolulu airport for passengers who obtain their boarding pass and pay bag fees before arriving at the airport. You can read about it at 808ne.ws/hatch.

Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.