U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Ron M., stationed at Camp Slayer in Baghdad, Iraq, recently received a free cup of coffee and kind note from Mrs. Strassberger and her Sunday school class thanking him for his service to the country.

The sailor had never met the teacher or any students in her class.

The two were brought together by the Green Beans Coffee Company's Cup of Joe for a Joe program, which helps people who want to express their thanks to a servicemember by buying them a cup of coffee and sending them a personalized note via e-mail. All servicemembers who receive a free coffee and letter are randomly selected.

The Larkspur, Calif-based company, which has several locations in Iraq and Afghanistan, started the program in late 2008 after talking to military officials and discovering that many troops didn't get a lot of mail from home, said Clay Lingo, Green Beans' vice president of marketing.

"We wanted to send these guys a little morale booster," Lingo said.

Company officials started up a Facebook page in June 2009 to better connect people to servicemembers who receive the coffee.

"We proposed (a) Facebook (page) right off the bat," he said. "We wanted to put together a community, and indeed, that's what happened."

As of Tuesday, the page had more than 246,000 friends. Helping fuel the growth of the community is the many responses and photos the company posts from servicemembers who receive a coffee. The page is filled with notes soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines write back once they receive the gift.

"Thank you so much for the gift of coffee," Ron M. wrote. "The little Green Beans Coffee store is a nice place to go to remember what it's like to be back in the United States. For a little while, it's almost like being home. But more importantly thank you for thinking of us half the world away and especially thanks for your prayers."

It's that kind of feedback that keeps the program running strong, Lingo said.

"We wanted to personalize it as much as possible," he said. "What's nice about this is it's a 360-degree program. Chances are you're going to get a letter back."

People can also post comments on the page's wall.

"Thank you seems so small for the service to give to us ... just want each of you to know how much we thank you and appreciate all you do, to enable us to live in a country that has so many rights thanks to our service members," Facebook user Renee Ditmore posted. "God Bless you and always in my prayers."

Users can purchase one cup of coffee for a servicemember for $2 and write an accompanying note or donate more to the program by logging on to www.greenbeanscoffee.com and clicking "Cup of Joe" at the top of the page. The program can also be accessed by typing "Cup of Joe For a Joe" into the search feature on Facebook.