Alex Gihorski had lost faith in humanity.
The Atlantic City postal carrier returned to his truck at Caesars Colosseum Parking Garage earlier this month to find it had been broken into. Everything from rain gear and some charges to a library book and hand fan were gone.
But it was his well-stocked tackle box that really hurt.
"It took someone 10 minutes to take something that’s taken me roughly 10 years to build," he said.
He asked if the Facebook page Scan Atlantic City would share a post of the box, hoping someone might find it. He offered a $500 reward.
No one responded for the reward.
Instead, he got an outpouring of supportive texts and messages, with strangers sharing the post. Some even sent money to help buy new gear.
His faith in people was restored.
Then, the general manager of Bass Pro in Atlantic City sent a message to Scan Atlantic City's Facebook page asking if the post was legitimate — and offering to help if it was.
"I was excited to hear from them and nervous to see what they were going to give me," Gihorski told BreakingAC. "I honestly figured it’d be a small bag and a few pieces of tackle."
He underestimated them.
General Manager Megan Werber gave him "she gifted me a Bass Pro bucket, trucker hat, "a beautiful new bag and gift card to start my journey of rebuilding."
Werber told BreakingAC when she saw the post, she knew it was a Bass Pro customer, since the bag was their brand.
"I know how much value a tackle bag holds to the angler," she said.
"Our mission at Bass Pro is to give back to the community as much as we possibly can, and to keep people in the outdoors," she said. "Losing a tackle bag does not keep a customer of ours in the outdoors."
She said she knows the bag's contents likely took years to accumulate, but "I figured any help that we could give would certainly get him started off in the right direction.
"I never imagined it would be so impactful to Alex and I am just grateful that he can see a positive outcome from what is most certainly a very negative experience," Werber added. "There are so many good people out here that are helping him as well and to be even a small part of it makes me grateful that we could help."
What does she want in return?
"I told Alex he owes me some pictures from his next fishing trip," she said.
