FAIRBANKS -- He scrimped and saved for a new portable dishwasher, making a special trip to town on Nov. 29, Black Friday, to place the order. He picked it up at Sears last Tuesday.

Before going home for the inaugural wash, Bob Thielges stopped at Sam's Club on College Road to stock up on soap for his new machine, still in the shipping box.

Thielges, a retiree who doesn't have a lot of extra cash, ducked into Sam's Club for a few minutes and returned to his truck. Just like that, the dishwasher was gone.

The security camera captured an image of someone putting the box in the back of a car. No one has been arrested.

"Like my daughter said, 'You got the detergent. You ain't got the dishwasher," Thielges said later.

When Erika Swanson, who works at Doyon Utilities with Cindie Chace, one of Thielges' daughters, heard about the purloined appliance, she posted it on Facebook.

"He is pretty bummed out as is his daughter," she said in the post.

Hundred of people shared the post with their friends. The word spread fast. A couple of people suggested pooling resources to buy him a new dishwasher, an idea that quickly gathered momentum.

"If each one of us commenting donated $20, he could get close to buying a new one," said Amy Reisland Speer.

Over the next couple of days, Swanson collected donations in person and through her credit union. In just two days, more than $800 arrived.

On Friday afternoon, when Thielges thought he was picking up his granddaughter at Ken Murray Insurance, he received the gift. He was shocked and happy at the kindness of strangers.

"This made my Christmas," he said. Chace said her dad got all choked up a few minutes later, as he walked out.

"Why would anyone want to do this for me?" he said.

Later, Chace sent a text message to Swanson and to those who had helped turn things around: "Thank you is just not enough. All of you in this act of kindness blessed my dad and touched the heart of my family from coast to coast. Thank you and God bless."