A Goodwill employee stumbled upon an accidental donation while sorting through items brought to her store located in Norman, Okla.
According to Fox 10, Andrea Lessing found a bundle of $100 bills totaling $42,000 with two old sweaters that were donated.
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“I never expected anything like this to happen to me of all people,” Lessing said according to Fox 10. “To me it was just another normal day at work. I was in the back sorting. I never expected to come across $42,000.”
According to KFOR, Lessing says she wouldn’t have imagined keeping the money as she believes in “karma,” and returning it was the right decision.
“I have a daughter, I love her very much and you can’t put a price on my daughter,” Lessing said. “I know what could be risked stealing that money and I do believe in karma. I do believe that if you do something good, something good will come back to you.”
Lessing reported the lost cash, and Goodwill was able to track down the owner thanks to some documentation included with the donation.
As “karma” would have it, Lessing was rewarded $1,000 by the individual who accidentally donated the cash for her good deed.
“I just want to say thank you because he was a blessing,” Lessing said of the individual who rewarded her. “I thought I blessed him, but he turned right around and blessed me. He restored my faith that there are really good people out there even through this pandemic. We don’t know their situation so it’s better to just be kind.”
According to Fox 10, a representative for Goodwill said the $42,000 was “the largest cash find reported for our Central Oklahoma Goodwill locations” in its 85-year-history, and one of the largest cash finds of any Goodwill store.