Lauren Rivera 
“Thank you” is what we say at the end of our emails, after a barista hands us our coffee, and when a stranger holds open a door. For some, the phrase is just a routine gesture, but for Hoboken resident Ellen Webster, saying “thank you” is more than a habit: it’s a personal expression of gratitude. Since 2014, she has handwritten thank-you notes to friends, neighbors, and strangers who’ve made a difference in her and her family’s lives. On May 22nd, 2025, Ellen sent her 10,000th thank-you note, marking the completion of a decade-long goal to reimagine how we express gratitude and recognize the little things in life. We sat down with Ellen to discuss her accomplishment, and the story behind it all.
^Ellen, sending out her final notes! Photo Credit: Ellen Webster
Ellen’s Story
When Hoboken resident Ellen Webster heard John Kralik, the author of A Simple Act of Gratitude, speak in 2014 about the power of a handwritten thank-you note, she made it a goal to write 10,000 handwritten notes to those who’ve made a positive impact in her life. At the time, she was 56 years old, living in Washington, DC, with her two children and husband, and struggling with personal hardships.
Photo Credit: Ellen Webster
“Reading about Kralik’s journey hurtled me back to my central Maine upbringing, where, so my mother insisted, no occasion, no gift, no act of kindness was too small to escape notice by penning a note of thanks,” Ellen shared with The Hoboken Girl.
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When she started this journey, Ellen sent notes acknowledging the typical moments that often prompt a quick “thank you.” The first card was sent over ten years ago to a woman in Virginia who once had hosted a women’s writing day event that Ellen enjoyed. Over time, the notes “grew into observing acts of unselfishness and moments of unguarded pluckiness that often can only be spotted by paying close attention to what isn’t shouted but rather whispered and gently intended,” she said.
Photo Credit: Ellen Webster
With each note transcribing the three simple thoughts: “I see you. You matter. Thank you,” she began to send cards to prominent people of her past and those whose acts of kindness might have otherwise gone unnoticed. She sent notes to those who supported her family when her son was sick, babysitters who once cared for her children, volunteers who once helped grant her son’s Make-A-Wish, and special needs education lawyers who helped her family receive the care they needed.
She also sent notes to people who actively keep our society running and often don’t receive a “thank you,” like doctors, nurses, massage therapists, coffee shop baristas, mail delivery workers, tailors, music directors, authors, car repair service workers, fast-food, drive-through employees, musicians, artists, and hair salon workers.
“Over time, those close-to-home notes moved outward,” Ellen told HG. “I continued to send notes for personal experiences, and I started acknowledging others I might never meet in person.” She sent notes to every state’s ACLU director, candidates the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund had supported, and over 2,700 independent booksellers across the U.S.
“And along the way, a wonderful thing happened,” Ellen said. “I started seeing the world through a lens of beauty. It was like a kaleidoscope where one brilliant facet leads to noticing another and another and another.”
“What started as an improbable goal has turned into a way to see my fellow humans as inherently peaceful, kind, and heroic. And yes, as my mother urged, I have learned to see the good intentions that lie beyond the acts themselves.”
As of this writing, Ellen is drafting notes to every theatre in the country “because more than ever, what they do to promote empathy, critical and independent thinking, and imagination matters,” she said.
Photo Credit: Ellen Webster
On May 22nd, Ellen finally reached her goal of 10,000 thank-you notes. From the 14th Street post office, the final note was sent to John Kralik, the author who first sparked Ellen’s journey. Ellen plans to continue to send thank-you notes, “because I can’t imagine a time when these notes won’t be essential to my life,” she said.
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