(CNN) The staff at his care facility asked him what he wanted for his 102 birthday, and now over 1,000 cards have come in from all over the world.

The team at the CareOne facility in Paramus, New Jersey, wanted to make World War II veteran Michael Diederich's 102nd birthday a special occasion. So like we all do when a birthday is coming up, they asked him what he wanted.

The only thing Diederich asked for were greeting cards.

"The Cupola team, and myself, started to brainstorm and thought the best way to get these cards would be to turn to social media, so we did just that," Ben Grannick, director of digital marketing at the facility, told CNN in an email.

They sent out the plea on October 11 with hopes of reaching their goal of receiving 102 cards by his birthday on November 20. What they got back was a mountain of support.

Read More