HOUSTON – A few days before Christmas, a woman named Susan Moore walked out of a Memorial area sub shop with a few take-out sandwiches but without her wallet. She didn't even notice she'd left it on the counter.
"At 11 o'clock at night, I heard my doorbell ring," Moore said. "I opened the door and it was Dennis."
Dennis Zelaya is the owner of Firehouse Subs at 14520 Memorial Dr., where Moore stopped earlier that day. He says he spotted the wallet, which had $500 inside, and decided to return it after work.
"I didn't think twice to just go and drop off the wallet," Zelaya said of the 20 minute drive to Moore's home. "I was just thinking to do something that I would want somebody to do in case something (like that) happened to me."
Moore was surprised and overjoyed.
"I just think it's amazing," she said. "I just think he's an angel on Earth."
What Dennis didn't know was that Susan had been having a rough holiday.
"It's been difficult because I lost my husband in July," Moore said. "This is our first Christmas without my husband. I'm now a single mom. So a $500 loss to my wallet would impact our family. I have 11-year-old twins and I still had lots of presents still to buy. "
Moore says she was so grateful for the good deed, she posted about it on Facebook.
Since then, Zelaya said he's been getting new customers because of it.
"It's amazing," he said humbly. "After that happened, I had a lot of customers come in saying, 'Are you the one on the post? Thank you for returning the wallet. This is my first time and I came because of that post."
Moore says that's just the beginning of what she hopes is continued support for Zelaya's business. In fact, she is organizing a community effort to further acknowledge Zelaya's good deed. The group is planning to visit his Firehouse Subs location st 14520 Memorial Dr. on Saturday. Jan. 3, in appreciation.