Making Macy's Wish: A Chicagoist Christmas Charity Challenge
By Marcus Gilmer in Miscellaneous on Dec 2, 2008 6:00PM
If there's one thing we can be sure of, it's the high level of vitriol with which locals despise Macy's for forcing out Marshall Field's. But now we've come up with a plan that may allow you to get a little bit of revenge and help a charity in the process. Macy's is running a campaign this holiday season called Believe based on the New York Sun's famous 1897 editorial, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." Ha ha. Anyway. Each store is equipped with a "Believe Station" at which the young and young at heart can write a letter to Santa and drop it in the Santa Mail box. For every letter received, Macy's will donate $1 to Make-A-Wish, up to $1 million. So that got us thinking: how can we make sure Macy's has to shell out the full cool million and allows us to express our contempt for the store at the same time? Why, by stuffing the mailbox, of course!
We're encouraging our readers to write their own letters to "Santa" and stuff the box at the State Street Macy's. Heck, we're getting in on the act, too! Of course, this comes with a catch: you actually have to visit the Macy's on State Street to place your letter in the station. But we're sure you can get in and out before the stench of Macy's perfumes settles into your clothes and hair. Besides, it's for the kids! We sent writers/black-ops staff members Karl Klockars and Lauri Apple to get some pictures and they made it back alive with the report that the station is "in the center of the first floor, by the info booth and the fountain full of money." So now you know where to go. Also, if you want to spend as little time in the store as possible, head over to the campaign's site and print a letter out ahead of time.
In the spirit of the holidays, though, we'd like to ask anyone doing this to keep it clean. Don't cause the Make-A-Wish kids to cry, so keep the nasty "Fuck Macy's!" and death threats to yourself and keep it light-hearted. Our suggestion? Make item No. 1 on your list "Bring back Marshall Field's." Sends the message without getting the law involved. And for the record, our item No. 2 is a unicorn.
Let's get to it!