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A Recs and Park Department helps spread the Christmas magic in Ventura County

Pleasant Valley Recreation & Park District collected letters for Santa
EMILY RAAB
Pleasant Valley Recreation & Park District collected letters for Santa

With just over a week to go until Christmas Day, letters from children and families from around the Central and South Coast have been mailed to Santa, including those dropped in a giant red mailbox in Ventura County.

Santa's elves might look a little different this year - more like the staff of Pleasant Valley Recreation & Park.

It’s the third year in a row that a giant red mailbox specifically for Santa’s mail has been set up by the District, outside the Community Center in Camarillo.

Connor Soudani, Recreation Coordinator at Pleasant Valley Recreation & Park District, says it’s the most popular year yet with over 400 letters posted before the cut off date of December 13.

“Christmas is such a magical time of the year for children, and it is truly a joy to bring a little of that magic to the children in our community with this chance to write a letter to Santa,” said Soudani.

Every letter Santa received via the mailbox, is guaranteed to receive a thoughtful reply from Santa himself.

Caroline joined KCLU in October 2020. She won LA Press Club's Audio Journalist of the Year Award in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Since joining the station she's won 10 Golden Mike Awards, 6 Los Angeles Press Club Awards, 2 National Arts & Entertainment Awards and a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Writing.

She started her broadcasting career in the UK, in both radio and television for BBC News, 95.8 Capital FM and Sky News and was awarded the Prince Philip Medal for her services to radio and journalism in 2007.

She has lived in California for eleven years and is both an American and British citizen - and a very proud mom to her daughter, Elsie.