The organization that lays wreaths at the graves of fallen veterans has only half the wreaths it needs to ensure one is placed at every grave in Arlington National Cemetery.

Wreaths Across America has collected sponsorships for about 126,800 wreaths as of Tuesday, but it needs 245,000 to cover every grave at Arlington. As a result, the organization is extending the deadline to sponsor a wreath for Arlington until Dec. 14, when the last truck filled with wreaths leaves Maine bound for Washington, according to a spokeswoman.

Wayne Hanson, the Wreaths Across America chairman of the board and location director for Arlington National Cemetery, said this is the 25th year the group has placed wreaths at the cemetery, and that it is personal for him when a headstone is left bare.

"Last year at this time we were still short, but not by quite as many. I think a lot of people drive by the cemetery in December and see all those wreaths and unfortunately people still believe that the government does that like they do the flags on Memorial Day," Hanson told the Washington Examiner.

"We receive no government funding. It's all individual sponsorships and certainly some corporate sponsorships that allow us to do the work that we do."

Family members are able to donate a wreath and request that it be placed on their loved one's grave. Three years ago, Hanson was placing a wreath for a special request in a section that had not been covered when he ran into a father visiting the cemetery who asked Hanson, "What about my son?"

"I said to myself, 'How many other people come to Arlington and see these thousands and thousands of wreaths and there's not one on their loved one's marker?'" he said.

"I hate to go back to where we can't cover them all and have someone come in saying, 'What about my son or daughter who was served and sacrificed and can't have a wreath?'"

Thousands of people in the Washington area show up to help place the wreaths each December. Hanson said if each of those people who is planning to volunteer could also donate a wreath, they would be able to make up the deficit.

Last year, the group was about 30,000 wreaths short in late November, but media attention drove up donations and allowed the group to not only cover every headstone, but also to place a wreath at the bottom of every column in the columbarium and at the niche wall where cremated remains are interred. The group has been able to place a wreath at every head stone for the past two years.

Not being able to do so in 2016 would be a step backward, Hanson said.

An uptick in the number of burials each day at Arlington National Cemetery means the group needs more wreaths every year to ensure all veterans there are honored, Hanson said.

If the organization does not receive enough wreaths, it works with the cemetery to prioritize which sections are covered, Hanson said. That may mean cremated remains are not honored with a wreath, or that some entire sections are left with no wreaths.

The wreaths will be laid out by volunteers at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as more than 1,200 locations across the country, on Dec. 17. Wreaths cost $15 and can be donated at wreathsacrossamerica.org.