Today’s good news story comes from the Good News Network. With the exception of fixing the typos, here is the story in its entirety.
Senior With No Car Walks to Work–But After She Found $15k and Returned it She Does Now
Strangers around the country are rewarding a Michigan woman for her honesty after turning in nearly $15,000 cash to the police that she found at a gas station.
It turned out to be the contributions of guests to a pair of newlyweds, who were more than overwhelmed by her integrity.
65-year-old Dianne Gordon has been walking 2.7 miles to and from her job behind a deli counter every day since her Jeep broke down, and she didn’t have enough money to fix it. One day she decided to stop at a gas station for a snack and noticed a plastic bag. Inside there was a lot of money; turning it around, there were some greeting cards and a lot more money.
Just doing what she “was taught to do,” the grandmother of two called the police, who sent an officer to take custody of the sum.
Gordon could have walked into any dealership in the state and driven something off the lot that day, but knew because the money wasn’t hers, it wasn’t correct to take it.
“If it doesn’t belong to you, you don’t keep it,” she told the Washington Post. “I didn’t do anything special. All I did was return something that didn’t belong to me.”
Police Chief Dan Keller of the White Lake Township Police Department telephoned Gordon later that day to tell her they had used the information on the cards inside the bag to track down the owners. The happy couple was “overwhelmed” by Gordon’s honesty, as was Keller’s wife Stacy Connell.
“As a police officer’s wife, I typically hear the bad things, so this was obviously heartwarming,” said Connell. “I was hoping we could help her get a car since she could have walked into any dealership and used that money.”
Connell set up a GoFundMe, and in just 6 days, it raised four times as much money from people wanting to reward Gordon’s act of selflessness as she had found in the sealed bag that morning.
Grateful for the money and the words of encouragement from all the contributors, who celebrated with comments like “there are still good people in the world,” Gordon said she was stunned by the outpouring of generosity, which at the time of publishing, raised $82,000 and then closed.
On February 8th, Friends of Dianne wrote: “Dianne officially signed for her new Jeep Compass yesterday at Szott M-59 in White Lake Township. Along with the new car, she also got an extended warranty, maintenance, insurance, and plates/tabs.”
There was also an inspection done at her home to evaluate some much-needed repairs that will be done very soon.
The good news here is a beautiful story that shows, more often than not, honesty pays. Today’s JohnKu talks about honesty. I hope you have a wonderful weekend
Choices by John W. Howell © 2023
A choice to do right,
Or to select the wrong way . . .
Do we think it out?
Another Saturday and another opportunity to do precisely nothing all day. The coffee machine reached an agreement with me to produce two cups each morning with no hesitation. In return, I agree to ensure the water tank is filled and the beans are replaced. Oh yes, there is another fine point. The toaster needs to be moved closer to the machine and left overnight. Not wanting to know stuff that I would need to drink heavily to forget, there were no questions asked.
