The Second City That Never Sleeps; Letters To Santa

[heather whinna]

I have set up a Facebook page for the 2009 Letters To Santa Benefit at Second City.

Letters To Santa

 

Last year was unbelievable! I am so grateful not only to Jeff & Sue but also to all of you. You can't imagine how many lives were changed forever last Christmas morning. Each family received not only presents and hundreds of dollars in gift cards but thousands of dollars in cold hard cash- up to $10,000! I visited one family last week and taped a follow-up interview with them. I have posted it on Facebook.

 

I will continue to send updates when I get more details!

 

Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 6:00pm - Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 6:00pm

Second City Chicago- ETC Theatre

1608 N Wells St

Chicago, IL

Phone: 3126644032

 

This event is all-ages

Tickets are $15 and are good for the entire 24 hour event as long as there are seats available.

Tickets will be available at the door only.

 

Confirmed Special Guests

Jeff Tweedy- Tue 7pm

Robbie Fulks- Tue 10pm

Upright Citizen's Brigade's Matt Walsh & Horatio Sanz- Midnight

Flashmob Marching Band- 3am

Bonnie Prince Billy- Wed 6am

BabyCo- Wed 7:30am

Nina Nastasia- Wed Noon

The Mountain Goats- Wed 2pm

The Blisters- Wed 4:30pm

Steve Albini

[heather whinna]

Just so you all know... I realize the post office has flipped out but we are trying to reign them back in ourselves. That's right. You heard me. We are going to attempt to bring the USPS back to it's senses. Until then no worries. We have a line on a local non-spiritual charity thats serves the Chicagoland community and we WILL have letters. Please consider writing WBEZ 848 and maybe we can all get the ball rolling! Thanks guys!

email address- 848@chicagopublicradio.org

[drop dead ed]

what exactly is this...? My friend told me she was a member of Second City and that she could by tickets to the Jeff Tweedy portion, but I'm not sure if she knows what she's talking about. Can anyone prove her right please haha, because I'll be in Chicago that day and I've been wanting to see a solo show since I first discovered them in 07. Yeah, I'm a newcomer I suppose.

[heather whinna]

what exactly is this...? My friend told me she was a member of Second City and that she could by tickets to the Jeff Tweedy portion, but I'm not sure if she knows what she's talking about. Can anyone prove her right please haha, because I'll be in Chicago that day and I've been wanting to see a solo show since I first discovered them in 07. Yeah, I'm a newcomer I suppose.

 

Anyone can buy a ticket. Being a "member" of Second City is not more or less helpful. The tickets are available ONLY at the door. $15 tickets will be available at the door the evening of the show. I hope you decide to come. It is pretty special.

[thagle]

I've been the last two years and cant wait to go again. I've seen several wilco related shows over the past few years in chicago and these are always the best, even if you do only hear 4 or 5 songs. Just wish I had the money to get a "lap song."

[okp greg]

Wow, Bonnie Prince Billy, Jeff Tweey, and the Mountain Goats, for $15? Plus all the comedy in between?!?

[belleboy]

Does any one know what time to line up at Second City for this event? Is 5pm tooo late?

[bböp]

BabyCo- Wed 7:30am

 

I'm very much looking forward to BabyCo, as I do every year.

 

(BPB at 6 am should be pretty interesting too, and that Jeff guy as well. )

[okp greg]

Does any one know what time to line up at Second City for this event? Is 5pm tooo late?

 

I showed up right at opening last year and got in fine.

[ms. yvon]

We have a line on a local non-spiritual charity thats serves the Chicagoland community and we WILL have letters. Please consider writing WBEZ 848 and maybe we can all get the ball rolling! Thanks guys!

email address- 848@chicagopublicradio.org

heather, i love that you're making a point to find non-spiritual charity. seems like that opens up who you might be able to help.

 

will drop a line to WBEZ, too.

 

bbop: please consider giving matt walsh a kiss on the cheek from me. i'll give you five bucks and a kogi burrito. thanks in advance.

[bböp]

bbop: please consider giving matt walsh a kiss on the cheek from me. i'll give you five bucks and a kogi burrito. thanks in advance.

 

Ooh, I would do just about anything for a Kogi (short rib) burrito. I'll see what I can do Ms. Y!

 

I think I would like to try throwing footballs at Joe Canale's privates this year as well.

[Preferred B]

Hey, no need to wait for the official contest, P.

[LouieB]

From the Sunday Trib....italics put in by me.

 

LouieB

 

Letters to Santa: Post office won't help deliver holiday joy

Jon Yates

 

forces Chicago couple to find new way to identify the neediest to get holiday largesse

Jon Yates

 

What's Your Problem?

 

December 6, 2009

E-mail Print Share Text Size Every Christmas, Steve Albini and his wife pack a rented van with clothing, cash and toys, then set out on a journey that would make even Santa Claus jealous.

 

Using funds raised at an annual Second City charity event, the couple distributes more than $100,000 worth of holiday cheer between about a dozen Chicago-area families -- down-on-their-luck households teetering on the brink of financial ruin.

 

The donations are, for some families, a life-altering event.

 

"There's so much money that it can literally save a family's entire year," said Albini, a Chicago musician and recording studio owner who has worked with numerous groups, including Nirvana, the Pixies and Jesus Lizard.

 

But a policy change by the U.S. Postal Service has Albini looking for new ways to make his makeshift sleigh fly this holiday season. Citing privacy concerns, the Postal Service altered its Letters to Santa program late last year. Instead of providing unedited letters to potential donors, postal workers now black out the names, addresses and phone numbers of people who write to Santa asking for help.

 

The change means Albini's wife, Heather Whinna, can no longer cull through the thousands of letters that amass each winter at Chicago's main post office, looking for the neediest families. She is now looking for other ways to find deserving recipients.

 

Albini said the Postal Service's new Letters to Santa policy makes it virtually impossible to deliver the goods in the way they have grown accustomed over the past 10 years.

 

"It does seem strange to create an obstacle between people who have asked for help and people who want to help them," said Albini, who wrote to the Tribune asking for help. His e-mail was forwarded to the Problem Solver.

 

Albini said he and his wife only used letters written by adults, not suburban children looking for computer games or a new scooter.

 

"Try to imagine how desperate you'd have to be to write a letter to an anonymous Santa asking for help. That's how desperate people are," Albini said. "I hope the post office can be made to see how much damage they're doing and change their policy."

 

Postal officials say they know the policy switch will impact the nearly century-old Letters to Santa program, but they are erring on the side of caution.

 

The change started last Christmas after a convicted sex offender in Maryland picked up a letter written by a young girl, said Mark Reynolds, spokesman for the Postal Service in Chicago.

 

Because the post office requires participants to show identification before taking a letter, the man's name had been recorded. A postal employee who knew the man saw his name on the list and alerted authorities. The man did not contact the girl, Reynolds said.

 

Still, the incident convinced postal officials that changes were necessary. Now, instead of providing donors with the actual letters to Santa, the Postal Service gives out photocopies of the letters with names and addresses blacked out.

 

Each photocopied letter is assigned a number. If someone wants to donate a gift to the letter writer, the donor must fill out a form and bring the packaged item to the post office. Once the donor pays for shipping, the post office sends the gift to the intended recipient.

 

"We know it's a holiday tradition. We want to keep that tradition alive," Reynolds said. "But we want to make sure everyone's security is in place. We wanted to eliminate to the fullest extent possible any potential problems."

 

Albini and Whinna insist the post office is overreacting. Whinna, a manager at Second City, said the Postal Service has provided letters to potential donors for decades without problems.

 

While she can understand the rationale behind blacking out the names and addresses of children who write to Santa, she does not see any reason to block the names and addresses of adult letter writers.

 

"It's almost none of (the post office's) business to step in between one person who is sending a letter and one person who is responding to it," Whinna said. "There just has to be some point where people allow grown adults to make their own decisions."

 

The couple contacted U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., who told them he would look into the post office's policy change. But after talking to postal officials, Davis decided he agreed with the policy change.

 

"Better to be safe than sorry, that what my momma used to tell us," Davis said. "You can't be too protective."

 

Whinna said part of the money used in her annual gift-giving spree is raised through donations from Second City audience members, which Second City then matches. The rest comes from a round-the-clock fundraiser that features comedians and musicians, including Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilco and Robbie Fulks, an alternative country singer.

 

The biggest chunk of money comes from an auction at the fundraiser, in which audience members bid for an in-house concert by Tweedy.

 

Last year, Second City raised roughly $120,000 for Albini and Whinna's spree. Whinna said families received toys, gift cards to grocery stores, computers and cash. She gave one family $10,000.

In each case, the gifts were given on Christmas Day as a surprise -- none of the families had been previously contacted. Albini and Whinna personally hand over the gifts and money with no strings attached. In most cases, they never see nor hear from the families again.

 

"People have all kinds of bad luck, and there are only a small number of ways they can be helped through institutional programs or government programs," Albini said. "With us, people don't have to stand in line, fill out forms or justify themselves to a bureaucrat."

 

Whinna said the idea of mailing the gifts is laughable. Some of the apartments they've visited in the past had no functioning mailbox. In other instances, a large package would be stolen by neighbors almost immediately, she said.

 

"Just the idea of mailing a gift, it almost makes me think the postmaster general has never been to a housing complex," Whinna said. "If there's no human contact, it will kill the program."

 

Whinna said she still hopes to find needy families. Just not through the post office.

 

Last week she met with officials at the Jane Addams Hull House Association about locating suitable recipients.

 

Clarence Wood, president and CEO of the Chicago nonprofit, said his agency will begin soliciting letters from its clients on Monday. The first 200 letters will be given to Second City.

 

Wood said the process will allow Whinna and her colleagues "to have the same experience they used to have with the post office."

 

As for the post office, Wood said the changes are disappointing.

 

"I think they should reconsider their policy, not just because of Second City but because a lot of people want to meet and connect with the families they help," Wood said.

 

Count Whinna among them.

 

"I would just rather make a huge difference in a small number of people's lives," she said. "I couldn't recommend a more incredible experience than to show up at someone's house on Christmas Day, to knock on the door, hand over a gift and leave. They're always overwhelmed and they're always grateful."

[heather whinna]

I just wanted to confirm that Jeff will auction off a private concert in your home for you and 29 friends at the LTS event.

I can't wait to see you guys again. Thanks for all you do!

-Heather

[jcarlile1]

Thank you Heather (and Steve) for all you do!! I'm glad you have figured out a way to help people in need without having to go through the post office's new rules.

 

Good luck to you and merry holidays!

[PopTodd]

The holidays ended weeks ago for most of us, but it’s still Christmastime for Steve Albini and his wife, Heather Whinna.

 

The couple, featured in the Dec. 6 What’s Your Problem?, hoped to make the last of a dozen holiday gift deliveries this week, capping an annual Second City charitable program designed to help some of Chicago’s neediest families.

When the Problem Solver last wrote about Albini and Whinna, the couple was worried that a change in the U.S. Postal Service’s Letters to Santa program would put a damper in Second City’s decade-old giving tradition.

 

In years past, Second City used the letters to identify needy Chicagoans. Last year, the postal service stopped providing the names and addresses of the letter writers, prompting Albini to worry that those families would not receive help.

Turns out, the Chicago musician and recording studio owner’s concerns were at least partially realized.

 

The Second City program raised more than $100,000 this year, allowing Albini and Whinna to deliver computers, toys, gift cards and cash to 12 area families. All of the families were identified through the Jane Addams Hull House Association.

 

Albini said working with the Hull House was great, but all of the families that received help were already receiving assistance from other sources. In years past, when Albini and Whinna used the letters to Santa to identify needy families, most were “off the grid” of social services.

 

“The difference this year is all of them were somewhat integrated into a structure that was already helping them,” said Albini, who has worked with such bands as the Pixies, Nirvana and Jesus Lizard. “The people we didn’t see are the kind of desperate, on-their-last-legs people who we’re used to seeing.”

 

Albini said most of the deliveries were made on Christmas day, but a few families were not home. He expected to make the last delivery, to a family with four kids, Tuesday night.

 

The postal service policy change changed the Second City program, but did not eliminate it, Albini said.

 

“The food chain of normal people helping other normal people has been interrupted, that’s all,” he said. “Unfortunately, we live in a time where a lot of different people need help.”

Albini said he still hopes to convince the post office to reverse its Letters to Santa policy change.

 

He’s trying to get a meeting with Postmaster General John Potter.

“I want to introduce him to some of the people we’ve helped,” Albini said. “Through doing this, we’re demonstrated that it’s possible for anyone to help.”

 

LINK

 

 

Go! Man, Go!!!