NH Woman Collects More Than 160,000 Cards For Troops Overseas

HOLLIS, NH (CBS) - A New Hampshire woman is doing all she can to make sure American troops know people are thinking of them this holiday season. What started as a family tradition is now a massive non-profit operation.

Laura Landerman-Garber has helped collect more than 100,000 holiday cards and is sending them to members of all five military branches, all over the world. Her Hollis home is holiday central for her organization Holiday Cards for our Military.

"It's easy to lose sight that there are plenty of people, especially the military, who are far away from home," she said. So Laura decided to bring a little bit of home to the military. "I'm hoping that they know we're thinking of them, we appreciate them and we really love them," she said.

It started 17 years ago as a small, family tradition before Thanksgiving dinner. Laura and her family wrote a few cards to troops serving overseas. But three years ago, Laura broadened the appeal, asking everyone to send her as many cards as they liked.

"In 2017, 17,000. In 2018 there were 50,000, and this year over the 160,000 mark," she said.

She's already shipped out 115,000 holiday cards this season to military bases and aircraft carriers, anywhere Americans are serving. She's even gotten presidential candidates on board, like Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders.

"The real stars are the military men and women and the families that support them. That's the greatest lesson I've learned," Laura said.

Laura will accept cards through Dec 15th. If you want to send some to her for distribution go here to find out how: militaryholidaycardchallenge.com