Honest Goodwill employee found $42k in donated sweater and returned it — then got an unexpected surprise from donor

The woman expressed that she believed in 'karma' and had to give the money back to the rightful owner.

PUBLISHED 10 HOURS AGO

(L) A front view of a Goodwill store. (R) A woman holding up a sweater and looking at it carefully. Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Neal McNeil; Tom Werner

An employee from an Oklahoma Goodwill surprised the company and the customers with her one gesture. It all began when the woman found a bundle of notes that had accidentally been donated along with clothes. The employee, Andrea Lessing, was going through the donated clothes when she found the cash. However, she didn't realize that she had actually found a huge amount of money because it was wrapped in two old sweaters. She thought they were books at first and only realized that it was cash worth $42,000 after a closer look, per FOX News.

The facade of a Goodwill store. Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Patty C

"I never expected anything like this to happen to me, of all people. To me, it was just another normal day at work. I was in the back sorting. I never expected to come across $42,000," Lessing shared. It isn't unusual for employees at Goodwill to find things tucked away in donated items when they check things, per KFOR. But nobody had ever reported finding such a huge sum in Oklahoma at that time. "Just from working here a month and a half, I’ve realized that there are a lot of things that have been donated. You want to make sure there’s good product, there’s no stains, there’s no holes, there’s no tears, there’s no rips," Lessing added. "There were just stacks of envelopes and it just contained $100 bills. My first thought was – it’s fake."

Bundles of cash kept on a table. Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Bloomberg Creative

However, alongside the cash, there were also documents that could help the person take the cash to the rightful owner. "Normally, we have no way of knowing who the money belongs to. Even if we wanted to try to give it back to someone, there was no way to find who that person was," Frank Holland, Vice President of Donated Goods at Goodwill, commented. But Lessing didn't think of keeping the money at all and was determined to return it to the rightful owner. "I have a daughter, I love her very much and you can’t put a price on my daughter. 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."

A store employee looking ahead with a smile. Representative Image Source: Getty Images | bjones27

They ended up finding the owner and returning the money, who decided to reward Lessing for her honesty. "They asked us if we would give you $1,000 out of that money and give that back to you. Thank you for what you’re doing and your integrity. You’re really living our values and that’s for you," Holland recounted. Lessing was thankful for the money and knew that she could plan a special surprise for her 6-year-old with the reward at that time. "Her birthday is coming up in July, so I can actually give her an amazing birthday party." The mom told Fox News, "I made the right decision and I did the right thing."

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"I just want to say thank you because he was a blessing," the woman said about the reward. "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." Goodwill also applauded the mom for her honesty. "The actions of Andrea and our Goodwill organization are real-life examples of one of our core values: integrity," Jim Priest, JD, CEO of Goodwill Industries of Central Oklahoma, expressed in a statement to Fox News.