He Donates Late Mother's Dolls to Thrift Shop, Store Finds & Returns $36,000 Hidden in Collection
When our loved ones pass on, we’re often left with piles of things to sort through. Many items end up donated to Goodwill or local charities.
The task can be a daunting one. If the person left behind decades of memories, it might be challenging for the survivors to go through it all.
Ray Rhinehart of Culver City, California, didn’t have much use for a porcelain doll collection.
When his mother, Millie, passed away in 2017, Rhinehart decided it would be best to donate her dolls to the Discovery Shop in Santa Monica.
The shop is funded by the American Cancer Society, and proceeds from sales go toward cancer research.
Rhinehart dropped Millie’s porcelain dolls off, never even thinking to look inside their boxes.
About two months passed before Rhinehart received an unexpected phone call. It was someone from the Discovery Shop.
“I got a phone call saying that … we found an envelope in one of the boxes of the dolls,” Rhinehart explained. “And there seems to be a lot of money in it.”
“A lot of money” could mean many things to many different people. Rhinehart assumed the shop had probably found something closer to $30 or $40.
But his assumption didn’t even come close to what the shop had waiting for him. “It turned out to be quite a bit of money,” he said.
Quite a bit of money is putting it lightly. The store found an envelope filled with $36,000 in cash.
What’s perhaps most astounding about this story is not the inheritance Millie left behind.
Instead, it is the Discovery Shop’s honesty — and the staff’s willingness to put the money in the hands of the rightful owner — that is truly astonishing.
Rhinehart has expressed his deep gratitude to the honest people at Discovery who made the “discovery.”
The dolls will be well-loved and cared for as they’ve since been donated to an orphanage.
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