WE NEED YOUR HELP!

It's hard to believe that summer is winding down
and schools will open in just 2 weeks! 
Coming up . .  .
September 11th Remembrance
Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas! 
This is the season when Operation Goody Bag kicks into HIGH GEAR! 

We need your HELP!  Do you belong to an organization or work place that is looking to "DO GOOD"???  Well, Operation Goody Bag is a simple team-building project!  We have had groups of 10 to 1000 participants color bags and write letters!  Why not YOU?  What a terrific way to "break the ice" at a luncheon or day conference all while "Doing Good"!  You can color bags, write letters and hold a fundraiser to cover "STUFFING" the Goody Bags!  Bring out that inner child in your co-workers!  You won't believe how much fun they will have with crayons and a paper bag!  Check out this terrific article about OGB for successful meetings.
http://live.successfulmeetings.com/Event-Planning/Meeting-Planning/Articles/Leaving-a-Community-Footprint/
This April we hosted our 3rd Annual Viacommunity Day OGB event at Viacom Headquarters in NYC!  Everyone had a blast!  And you won't believe what great Goody Bag artists there are at MTV, Nickolodean, and Comedy Central!
Get in touch with me at janecosco@operationgoodybag.org if you have any questions on how to set up an event!

The children at East Brook have been extremely busy the month of March.  So far, we have stuffed over 1,900 Goody Bags for the Troops!  1,000 have already been shipped to the USS Comfort.  This ship is a Level I Trauma ship manned by the US Navy, and sails across the globe providing medical care during disasters.  USS Comfort was on the scene in Haiti days after the horrific earthquake, so OGB wanted to "SAY THANKS" for being there!  Just a "Little Bag of Magic, for those who serve".

Alpha Graphics of Paramus generously has donated all the printed materials we stuff in our bags including . . . the Tale of the Goody Bag, a patriotic poem, a patriotic word search, and a personal letter of thanks! We say THANKS to Alpha Graphics for their continued support.  Inserra Shop Rite has pallets of "Goodies" ready for our next big packing event on April 20th.  Our students will stuff over 6,000 Goody Bags for the children in Haiti as well as for the Sailors and Marines aboard the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier which responded to the earthquake in Haiti.

Another massive NE snowstorm blanketed our area on the day of our planned Press Conference.  Needless to say, it had to be postponed.  But that didn't stop our efforts to send Goody Bags to Haiti.  Hackensack University Medical Center is sending 2 doctors to Haiti this weekend and what will they be packing besides clothes, toiletries and medical supplies???? You guessed it ... Goody Bags.  200 adorable gifts for the children.  We can't wait to see the photos!  Our Kick-OFF Press Conference will be held this Wednesday, March 10th at 11:00 AM at the Deirdre Imus Environmental Center at HUMD.  Our students, along with our Navy Friends, will be packing the last of a batch of 500 Goody Bags that the Catholic Medical Missions Board will be airlifting to Haiti next week.  This is the beginning of a wonderful partnership . . . Deirdre Imus' Kids Love Kids, HUMC, CMMB, Intrepid Fallen Heroes and OGB....PERFECT together.  I will post the photos of the children as soon as we receive them.

Today starts a BIG WEEK for OGB students, Faculty and Families!  A Press Conference is scheduled for Thursday, February 25th as a KICK-OFF for our new partnership with The Deirdre Imus Environmental Center for Pediatric Oncology and the Catholic Medical Mission Board.  This joint venture will focus our Goody Bags to target Haitian Relief!  We will be shipping Goody Bags filled with organic treats, student-created coloring books, non-toxic crayons, note pads and a cute stuffed teddy bear to the orphans of Haiti.  We want the children to know that they are not alone in the world, that others, especially children, are thinking about them and send them their love.  Mrs. Imus and I will be coordinating this massive effort to ship tens of thousands of Goody Bags to the Haitian children!  The Catholic Medical Mission Board will be our Haiti on-the-ground support TEAM! We are thrilled to be a partner in this humanitarian effort, and can't wait to get this project off the GROUND! 
At this very moment Paramus students are coloring 1000's of Goody Bags!  We welcome help from any school districts, organizations and families across the country!  Color brown lunch bags and mail to OGB.  We will fill them at our location.  DONATE to help defray our content and shipping costs.  (Click on the link above to go to Hackensack University Medical Center to donate for Haitian Orphan Goody Bags.)  One Goody Bag to Haiti costs $4 to FILL & SHIP!  Come ONBOARD!  Engage your children in a "little" project that is going to make a BIG difference in the lives of children!

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.