Shore woman’s honesty over found iPad touches social media

     A thank you note and gift card Nicole Gibson received after finding an iPad, posting on Facebook, and locating its owner. (Photo courtesy of Nicole Gibson)

    A thank you note and gift card Nicole Gibson received after finding an iPad, posting on Facebook, and locating its owner. (Photo courtesy of Nicole Gibson)

    Right on cue for the season of giving, a Bayville woman’s honest act of searching for the owner of an iPad that she had recently found at a Target store touched off warm and fuzzy sentiments on social media.

    Nicole Gibson was shopping at Target in Brick Saturday evening when she discovered an iPad on the ground.

    Not finding the owner after twice contacting the store’s customer service department and notifying local police, she decided to try something different. 

    So on Sunday, Gibson contacted Jersey Shore Hurricane News (JSHN), a social media news service with over 225,000 “citizen contributors” mainly in Ocean and Monmouth counties, for help reaching the community.

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    The posting generated many responses thanking Gibson for her honesty.

    “Nicole, may God bless you for this truly good deed,” wrote Gregory Andrus.

    Lisa Miskelly Greeley recognized the significant of the timing. 

    “That’s the Holiday Spirit, Nicole. Good for you and being honest,” she wrote. 

    Others offered tips on how to search for the owner, including contacting Apple and leaving the device on so the owner could ping the location.

    Hours later, Gibson’s social media outreach worked.

    “I was contacted by the owner of the iPad this morning and told him I would drop it off at Target. He was there when I got there and gave me this thank you card and gift card,” she said. “He will never know how much this gesture meant to me. Much needed and very much appreciated. He really made my day.”

    Gibson says “thank you” to everyone who helped with her mission to find the iPad owner. 

    “I just want to thank you for sharing my post yesterday. I knew turning to this page would work! Thank you to everyone who shared the post and helped me find him.”

    Justin Auciello, the author of NewsWorks’ “Down the Shore” blog, is also the editor of JSHN. 

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