On April 18th, Dr. Laura Landerman-Garber addressed the Rotary Club of Nashua regarding her project, Holiday Cards 4 our Military-NH Challenge. Laura is a mom, grandmother, and former Steelers fan, who finally saw the light and now embraces the Patriots. She also mentioned being a former Rotary Girl of the Month back in 1973. The challenge began in 2003 with her own family, when she gave them the “ticket to Turkey Day” challenge of writing a letter to our Heroes in the service.
The primary challenge of the Holiday Card Challenge and #cards2connect Programs is the collection and delivery of personalized, signed expressions of respect, caring, and gratitude to US Troops, Veterans, and Service Families. Your personalized and signed greeting cards and letters reflect your genuine support, caring, respect and appreciation of our military heroes. The cards let them know that they are not alone during the winter holiday season and now, throughout the year.
By 2017, Laura hoped with a simple goal of collecting 5000 cards for the USS Roosevelt and she received 17,000. At the request of a WWII veteran, she was moved to share cards with all military branches. A short video presentation showed how a small volunteer effort in NH got national attention. Their efforts have gone from 50,000 to 100,000 cards. Laura has met with the Governor, members of Congress and the Senate, as well as the White House.
A local attorney and accountant dontated their time to help them become a true non-profit entity.
They have guidelines to for writing letters to show gratitude. Patriotism and appreciation for the sacrifices of our military deployed all over the world. They have also started sending letters to those soldiers based in the states but away from home. All letters are proofread as it is important to help warriors feel a peace of home. The proofreading is also very important as suicide rates among the military are extremely high and these cards help show that people care about each soldier in service.
Laura did share a couple of letters from the thousands of letters. A young boy wrote, Dear Warrior, we is safe because you are brave, we can sleep at home because you are courageous, and you are a hero. A young girl wrote that when she is lonely, she always knows someone loves her, so she wanted the warrior to know they were loved if they felt lonely.
All the Nashua schools participate in the project, including Rivier. A shout out to BG who have written over 10,000!
The project is always open to new ideas, so much to the delight of our fur friendly members, the challenge has also started sending milk bone cards to our military service dogs.
In short, the power of a heartfelt written card and bring much needed happiness to the members of the military at home and scattered around the world.
Contact information is:
Laura Landerman-Garber
HolidaycardsNH@gmail.com
400 Amherst Street #407, Nashua, NH 03063
https://militaryholidaycardchallenge.com/