Army Cpl. Chris Petrossian was winding down his 17 month tour of Afghanistan when he purchased about five thousand dollars worth of Christmas gifts online for his family in Lodi, California.

The Monday before he was to return home from his deployment, robbers broke in and ransacked the home of his family, taking all the Christmas gifts and other items.

“After being gone that long, you want to have a good Christmas and good homecoming,” Petrossian told WCRA-TV. “It was all sitting on the desk and they just ripped open all the packages and helped themselves to whatever they wanted, which was everything.”

When Cpl. Petrossian arrived home on Wednesday, he found a huge surprise waiting for him.

The residents of Lodi, California came together to raise funds to restore about ¾ of the presents that Petrossian had bought for his family. Local police and firefighters sparked the fund drive.

The Corporal’s wife told the Lodi News-Sentinel the best gift was her husband home for the holidays.

“I don’t know what I would do here, right now, without him,” Cheryl Petrossian said.