Alabama man Jason Rogers was celebrating the Fourth of July at American Legion Hall and just as the excitement started to wind down, he realized something near and dear to his heart was nowhere to be found.
His Yeti ice chest.
Rogers was using this chest to store beers in the bed of his truck. He went out to grab one last round when he realized that the Yeti was gone, AL.com reports.
For some, a cooler can be easily replaced. For Rogers, nothing can replace the cherished Yeti ice chest that belonged to his son who passed away four years ago.
As a result, Rogers uploaded a video where he explained what had happened and even offered a reward; anyone who finds the cooler will receive $500 in cash and a brand new Yeti.
He didn’t stop there. On July 5, he created a Facebook group called “Stolen From Me In Baldwin/Mobile County,” which provided another platform to post about the stolen Yeti. The page has almost 9,000 followers.
“It’s insane, the love people have shown from that post,” he said.
Every time that cooler opened, Jason was given the opportunity to talk about his son, Skyler Ace King. Rogers made sure to take great care of it and he used it while traveling all over the country. It has been filled with lobster from Boston, to boudin and crawfish from Louisiana, and everything in between.
According to AL.com, Skyler was speeding to work on April 23, 2012, when his truck suddenly crashed into the back of a school bus, just a mile and a half away from home.
Since the creation of the Facebook page that Rogers created, hundreds of people have posted pictures of items that have been stolen from them.
“I’m always looking for a way to honor my son,” Jason said. “If one person gets one thing back, it’ll be a good tribute to my son’s name. That’s the end goal of the whole thing. If something positive comes, every time it happens it’ll make him smile.”
Since the video was posted and the page was launched, donors have increased the reward to $1,450 in cash, a new Yeti cooler, 25 free cases of beer.