Xerox Sends Thanks to Troops

Jan. 13, 2009 — -- The colors might be blurry and the handwriting lopsided, but the message couldn't be clearer: Thank You.

It's the message thousands of American troops have received in the form of colorful, homemade cards courtesy of Xerox's "Let's Say Thanks" program, which puts the creative earnestness of children and heartfelt messages of adults in the hands of soldiers thousands of miles away -- all for free.

"It was an idea that came from Xerox employees [to show] gratitude for the men and women overseas," Carl Langsenkamp, V.P. of public relations for Xerox, told ABC News. "We said to kids, 'Just draw images of your hometown.'"

The children answered and they have not let up since the program started two years ago. Thousands of kids submitted their postcard designs, and a lucky few were selected to be available to send to the troops.

While senders cannot control which soldiers receive the cards, they can add their name along with whatever other personal message they'd like to send.

Then, Xerox set up the LetsSayThanks.com Web site and allowed anyone to send a soldier one of the kids' cards with a personal message at no charge to the sender.

"It's not about the conflict over there, but the men and women serving over there," Langsenkamp said. "The military personnel get a lot out of it just by looking at the comments [on the Web site]."

The Web site lists dozens of comments from soldiers, all expressing deep gratitude for the cards they have received.

"Thank you so much for the post card. It is so nice to receive things in the mail here," one Army sergeant wrote. "Some would not believe it but the simple good feeling of going to the company mail room and the clerk saying, 'Yes, you have mail' is an uplifting experience. Even if it's just a letter saying, 'hi' [it] makes our day! Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers."

According to Langsenkamp, Xerox does not have plans to stop the program anytime soon.

"We're hoping," he said. "We'd like to see it end tomorrow if all the men and women came home, but for now we're going to keep it going for the men and women overseas."