Want to be Santa’s helper? Do like Juliette Kinzie and say ‘yes’

A little boy writes, “Dear Santa’s Helper, I would like a Mario Luigi toy or shirt and a Sonic the Hedgehog toy or shirt.”

A little girl writes, “Dear Santa, I want a stuffed animal, a ball and a baby doll.”

Both children, along with thousands of other boys and girls, are participating in the Chicago Sun-Times’ annual “Letters to Santa” program.

They are Chicago schoolchildren, often from families that are just getting by, who hope that you — as one of Santa’s helpers — might make their Christmas a little sweeter. They all would love a toy or two, of course, but many of them also have asked for things more practical, such as shoes or a coat. Kids can be quite sensible.

As we read these letters from children each year, and as we ask you to join us in being Santa’s helper, we’re always very much aware that we’re taking part in a tradition of giving — and of giving back — that goes back in our city forever.

We’re aware that this is the softer side of a hard town, and it’s nice to be working that softer side.

Chicago’s earliest history typically has been told as the story of the men, not women, who worked in business and government. That’s because white men were the boosters and speculators. They owned everything and were written up in the news. Women, in an era before even Jane Addams, were restricted by custom and law to running the family household.

A direct line, though, runs from this commitment to the household by Chicago women almost 200 years ago to the powerful civic culture today that make our city not just a place to live, but livable. Women extended the concerns of the household — schooling children, caring for the sick, religious instruction and the arts — to their neighborhoods and the city as a whole.

This story is told in a fascinating new biography, “The World of Juliette Kinzie,” by the historian Ann Durkin Keating, published by the University of Chicago Press.

Juliette — whose husband, John, was a Chicago-born businessman and real estate speculator — arrived in the settlement from back East in 1831, when Fort Dearborn still stood, and died in 1870, just missing the Great Chicago Fire. She was a woman of her times, accepting her second-class status and full of the usual prejudices — you wouldn’t want to get her going on the failings of black and Irish servants. But she was a woman of her times, as well, in her sense of civic responsibility.

All of which is to say we’re pretty sure Juliette Kinzie would have jumped right into this Letters to Santa program.

“I do think there is a connection,” Keating told us recently. “Juliette and John Kinzie understood they had a responsibility not only to educate their own children but all of the boys and girls in Chicago. When they could have privately educated their children, they supported Frances L. Willard and others who built the base for the Chicago Public Schools. Beyond schools, Juliette worked to create a network of institutions that would together create a civic culture for the benefit of everyone in Chicago.”

Perhaps it’s no surprise that a Kinzie granddaughter, Juliette Gordon Low, founded Girl Scouts of the USA.

So here’s our pitch: Become a Santa’s helper.

Many of you have done so in the past, for which we thank you, and we hope you will again.

Just go online to suntimes.com/santa and ask us for one or more of the children’s letters. Then buy a present, wrap it, and deliver it to the school by the date requested. Cash donations work, too.

The children, who range in age from 4 to about 10, will adore you. Or they’ll adore Santa. And you will be participating in a great Chicago tradition of civic responsibility.

From Aaron, who is 9 years old: “Dear Santa’s helper, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my letter and make one of my Christmas wishes come true. I know I can only ask for one thing that is less than $25 so I took my time to think about this. I would love to get a Minecraft Zombie set. From Walmart, $15.99.”

What would Juliette say?

From Gonzalo, who is 7: “I am in 1st grade. How are you? I have been good. Can I please get a new jacket and blanket? My pillow hurts my neck. A pillow with unicorns.”

Seriously, what would Juliette say?

And what do you say?

Send letters to letters@suntimes.com.