Hrbek will head local United Way campaign

By Ben Orcutt -- borcutt@nvdaily.com

FRONT ROYAL -- Vice Mayor Bret W. Hrbek will be leading the charge for this year's United Way of Front Royal-Warren County campaign.

"I'm honored that they would ask me to do this," Hrbek said Wednesday. "That they have enough confidence and faith in me to lead the work."

This year's campaign will help 15 local health and human service agencies with their operating expenses, with a goal of $95,000 and a "Neighbors Helping Neighbors" theme, according to local United Way Executive Director Lee Smith-Osina.

"Our United Way is all local now, and I think the choice of Mr. Hrbek is ideal in emphasizing that all funds raised in this most important campaign are utilized right here in Front Royal and Warren County," Smith-Osina says in a news release. "We are indebted to Bret and his strong support of our local efforts."

Hrbek, 35, is a 1992 graduate Warren County High School and a 1996 graduate of Virginia Tech, where he majored in political science and economics. He is employed as a financial adviser for Edward Jones in Front Royal.

Hrbek said he was asked to be chairman last week based on the decision of the local United Way's board of directors.

"I look forward to making sure the United Way and the area agencies they represent are successful and meet their program needs and objectives," Hrbek said. "It's all local -- neighbors helping neighbors."

Hrbek said this year's campaign gets under way during next Friday's football game at Warren County High School.

Hrbek said the board of directors of United Way of Front Royal-Warren County will be doing most of the work and will be assigned to solicit donations from various sectors of the community consisting of corporate, small business, professional, individual, charitable, school and employee donors.

"It really doesn't take a lot of giving to help someone in our community," Hrbek said, noting that it only costs $10 per week to fund the medical needs for a patient at St. Luke Community Clinic or $1 per week to provide food and shelter for a woman and her two children at the Warren County Council on Domestic Violence's Women's Shelter.

"That's a powerful thing," Hrbek said. "Give up a cup of coffee a week and you could help out a family in a tough time in their life and it's probably healthier for you too."

For more information, call the United Way of Front Royal-Warren County at 635-3636 or go online at www.frontroyalunitedway. org.