When Jim Glaub and Dylan Parker moved into their new apartment on West 22nd Street in Manhattan, the previous tenant left behind a strange warning: the address tended to receive a few random letters to Santa at the holidays.
Someone, somewhere was telling kids that their specific address was the place to send it.
That year, they received more than 400 letters from New York children and their mail carrier was beginning to get annoyed with them.
Desperate to figure out why the letters were coming, they opened a few and discovered not wishlists of expensive toys, but requests for basic necessities: winter coats, blankets, or simply to not have to eat Christmas dinner at the soup kitchen.
During their Christmas party, guests noticed the mountain of letters and the couple shared the story. To their surprise, guests began offering to take letters from the pile and fulfill them.
That's how the couple's non-profit, called Miracle on 22nd Street was born.
That first year, their story was turned into a short film by their friend Sarah Klein. Now, it's being made into a movie produced by Tina Fey.
As of today, they still haven't solved the mystery of who or why the children are given that address to send their letters to.
The couple themselves have moved to the UK and are keen to start a similar tradition there, while continuing the original.
It's fitting then, that their current home is a few doors down from the townhouse where Clement Clarke Moore wrote "The Night Before Christmas."
h/t: Daily Mail
