First Posted: 12/22/2014

One Dear Santa letter offered a crayon-drawn map with the words, “Dear Santa, Here is the road to my house.” A second wish read, “I wish my mom has the best Christmas ever.” Others simply said, “Dear Santa, Pay my tuition,” and “Santa, Please give me As on all of my finals.”

The letters to the Jolly Old Elf were generated as part of fundraising project coordinated by the Misericordia University Chapter of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA) and Macy’s to raise money for Make-A-Wish, a national non-profit organization that grants wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses.

Misericordia’s NSSLHA members set up letter-writing stations during lunch hour on campus for three days in early December,and encouraged students, staff and faculty to put their holiday wishes on paper. MU speech-language and hearing student clinicians assisted by having their young clients and patients write letters as well.

The MU project generated 525 Dear Santa letters, which NSSLHA members delivered to Macy’s as part of the nationwide “Believe” campaign. The department store donated $2 for each letter received to the Make-A-Wish Foundation for a Misericordia-inspired gift that totaled $1,050. In its seventh year, the Macy’s “Believe” campaign generated enough donations in 2014 to fund more than 50 Make-A-Wish requests.