After Military 'Daddy Doll' Found at Airport, Employee Knows She Must Track Down Girl It Belongs To
Katherine Whipple, 6, was running through Kansas City International Airport with her mother when she dropped a very important belonging: her Huggs To Go military doll with a picture of her and her deployed dad on it.
On Friday, March 19, a passenger spotted the doll and knew someone had to be looking for it. So she approached an employee named Dina Morley, who took the doll.
“I work at valet services by Southwest Airlines,” Morley told KMBC. “A customer walked up to me and said she found it on the floor. I kept it at valet services for a few days, hoping somebody would call about it or come back for it, but nobody did.”
The weekend passed, and no one had claimed the doll. Morley and Heather Parsons, a friend, asked a news outlet for help identifying the owner, and KMBC posted a photo and description of the found item on Facebook.
“KANSAS CITY, WE NEED YOUR HELP!” they began.
“A KCI employee and her friend are on a mission to reunite a special Huggs To Go Daddy military doll found on the ground Friday afternoon at Kansas City International with its rightful owner.”
“The doll is green and brown camouflage and features a girl and a man in the picture on the doll’s head. The dolls are created specially for family members in the military, and a keepsake worthy of getting back into the arms of a ?heartbroken? little girl.”
The post took off, was shared by thousands of people, and was eventually recognized by someone.
“A woman reached out to Dina via Facebook and said she knew who it belonged to and they’re coordinating a pickup time and place on Tuesday,” Parsons explained. “Without KMBC 9, this wouldn’t have happened so quickly. We’re so excited to return the doll to this little girl.”
Little Katherine arrived at the airport with flowers for Morley and Parsons, and took her missing doll, which she shares with her 3-year-old brother, back into her arms.
“I was traveling with my 18-month-old and my 6-year-old,” Katherine’s mother, Army Captain Eileen Whipple, said. “We were very, very late and she stopped and started tearing up saying she thought she dropped it.”
“I checked the picture I took of her to commemorate the trip and didn’t see it in her arms, so I figured she left in the car or at the house.”
Thanks to an observant passenger, some caring employees, and the power of the internet, Katherine has her Daddy Doll back.
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