Heavenly Find? 'Fridge Stocked With Cold Beer Appears in Flooded Field
After cracking open a few, the "finders" used social media to find the owner
(Images: Tanner Podraza/Nebraska Through the Lens)
You've heard people say there's nothing like a cold beer after a hard day's work? That's how Kyle Simpson told the Lincoln (NE) Journal Star he felt after a day of cleaning up the mud and flood debris left on his property in the small town of Linwood on the Platte River in Nebraska.
So Simpson and his friend Gayland Stouffer were kind of curious when they saw what looked like a mini-refrigerator in the middle of a field, about 50 yards off what was left of a flood-damaged road. It appeared to be the kind of 'fridge you'd use to chill beer, and looked like it had literally just fallen out of the sky.
Indeed when the two men went to investigate and opened the refrigerator door, they found it stocked with cans of Bud Light and Busch Light -- and the beers were dry and still ice cold! They figured whoever owned the beers wouldn't mind, so they cracked open a couple.
"It was a gift sent from the heavens, and we were happy to see it. But we hoped the people who lost the fridge were OK." Kyle Simpson, found "miracle" 'fridge
Then things got even more interesting. The Journal Star says Simpson and Stouffer took a couple selfies and posted about their find on social media. 18 hours after the photos were posted on the Facebook page " Nebraska Through the Lens ," the post was shared and liked thousands of times, with people leaving comments calling it a magic fridge, a pot of gold, a silver lining and just about every other appropriate pun you can think of.
It didn't take long for the 'fridge's owners to put two and two together. Judy Healy saw the Facebook photos and recognized the 'fridge (and the type of beer that was in it) as coming from the family's cabin in Schuyler, 4 miles away. Unfortunately the cabin was washed away. But like a cat with nine lives, the "little 'fridge that could" survived disaster -- for the second time! The Healys say it made it through a fire at their parents' house in 2007.
If you'd like to donate to help the people who are recovering from the massive flooding in Nebraska, here are some suggestions:
- The Salvation Army
- American Red Cross (Select "I want to support disaster relief")
- The United Way of the Midlands
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