Sad news was delivered to Bergen County New Jersey this week.  Westwood Firefighter and Marine Chris Hrbek was killed in a IED attack in Afghanistan.  Today, his family drove to Dover, Delaware to secure his remains and bring him home to the town he loved.  Over the last 7 years, all of us have heard the news stories on TV and read about them in the newspaper, but it really is different when this happens so close to home.  I never met Chris, but I have a story to tell about who he was.

Let me step back in time for a moment.  When we first started Operation Goody Bag, we assumed that we would send one shipment of treats to the troops, and move on to the next service project.  That was back in November of 2003.  What we didn't realize, was that in December we would receive our first thank you note telling us we were making a difference in the world!  We were shocked that the brave men and women who were sacrificing their lives each day would take time to write us a note! This first note and the ones that followed proved to be our inspiration to turn the first 1,000 Goody Bag shipment into hundreds of shipments totally over 125,000 Goody Bags as of today. In the last 7 years, we have received over 2,000 emails.  Some are funny, some are sad.  But I love each and every one of them as though they were sent by my own children. 

When I saw Chris' last name, it seemed familiar.  It is a very unusual spelling and probably difficult pronunciation, but it did ring a bell.  I went to my office bookcase and pulled out my MARINE looseleaf.  Flipping through the pages of letters I came across a letter from Chris written on August 9, 2005!

During that summer, Operation Goody Bag had shipped 5,000 Goody Bags to 4 Navy ships stationed in the Persian Gulf.  Chris Hrbek was serving on the USS Ashland and received a Goody Bag.  Chris wrote us an email saying how thankful he was! I remember because it was one of those special notes that I pulled out to include in the book I am writing.

I mentioned the letter to my husband, a Viet Nam Veteran.  He said he sees the Westwood Fire House Chaplain each morning at the coffee shop and he would probably want to see the letter.  i printed it, framed it and taped a patriotic Goody Bag to the side of the frame.  This morning, Gene presented the letter to the chaplain.

My husband said that there wasn't a dry eye in the shop!  The chaplain said that he was having difficulty trying to decide what to say at the funeral service and he asked God for help.  When he read the letter he said, "God works in mysterious ways, I am ready to write".

Someone just emailed me and said that Chris was on the USS Iwo Jima when it sailed from Norfolk to NYC for Fleet Week 2009.  Our Operation Goody Bag students were on the voyage as well, and when they passed out Goody Bags to the Marines, Chris received one and said that he knew who we were and when he returned home, he would like to visit the children at our school.

This is just one of the hundreds of amazing stories that have blessed us during our work with Operation Goody Bag.

Here is Chris' Letter to OGB in 2005;
Mrs. Cosco,                                                                             Hello.  My name is Christopher Hrbek.  I’m a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps.  I just received a Goody Bag from your school today!  And, I can’t thank you enough.  It’s kids and people like you who make us keep our heads up . . . even in the worst conditions.  Especially for the guys who don’t really have anyone back home, it’s really comforting to know that someone is thinking about them.  As I was reading the piece of paper on the Goody Bag, I found myself shocked when I saw it was from Paramus, NJ!  I myself am from WESTWOOD!  Pretty small world!  Feel free to write back! If any of the students would like to email me and ask questions, that’s fine, too.  Thank you again for the Goody Bag.
-Christopher Hrbek
Corporal U.S.M.C.