(July 29, 2008)—When Austin’s Buildasign.com offered 10,000 free welcome home signs to military families, it didn’t expect the banners to go as fast as they did, so now it’s offering another 10,000 at half price.

"We've had orders in all 50 states,” Senior Operations Manager Andy Knopp said.

“We've had orders from Germany. We've had orders from Hawaii, from all over the world, so it's been neat."

Knopp came up with the idea after making a welcome home banner for his own sister, who is an Air Force F-16 pilot.

The company at first thought the 10,000-banner giveaway would take a few months, but instead it the free banners were gone in just three weeks.

"We're giving away another 10,000 at half price,” Knopp said.

“All total we're giving away over a million dollars worth of banners,” he said, plus another 10,000 free military-theme license plates.

To-date 400 orders have come from the Killeen area alone, and employees are working around the clock to keep up with the demand.

“We've been printing banners on weekend. We have people coming in to keep up with the demand,” Marketing Manager Natasha Fussell said.

The company is shipping 1,500 banners a week, all of them arriving in time for military homecomings.

The work has had an unexpected payoff, however.

Letters from grateful families line the walls of the company’s production room.

"It’s really neat to hear those stories and just to hear how appreciative people are to know that we're recognizing them and that people out there really care about what they've been doing," Knopp said.