Mom Says Young Son Learned Valuable Lesson After Finding Envelope with $900 Cash Inside
Not all news is bad news, and there have been many stories of anonymous acts of kindness scattered across the internet: a mom finding a $20 bill sticky-noted to a package of diapers, gift-wrapped presents addressed to finders and people finding a variety of ways to pay it forward.
With the exception of some surprisingly generous tips from wealthy patrons, most of the little acts of kindness are just that — small, nice things that don’t break the bank but make someone’s day a little brighter.
When 10-year-old Foster Dudley was at Target with his mom in Hoover, Alabama, he stumbled across a scenario that could have almost resulted in making his day a lot brighter, but it would have stolen away someone else’s joy — and savings.
A blank envelope was in the aisle. When they picked it up and opened it, they counted nine $100 bills.
That wasn’t all, though — cash in an envelope could’ve been impossible to trace, but tucked inside was a slip from the credit union, and it had someone’s name and signature on it, implying that this find was accidental.
Parisa Dudley, the boy’s mother, posted what happened next on Facebook.
“Foster, my 10 year old son, learned a great lesson in integrity and empathy this past weekend,” she wrote, explaining the details that led up to finding the cash.
“His first response was, ‘Mom, can we keep it?'” It was a knee-jerk reaction most of us would experience — but Parisa asked him to reflect on the situation and see if that’s really what he thought was best.
“I looked at him and asked him to put himself in her shoes. What if he had lost that much money. How would he feel?”
“He quickly answered, ‘Mom, we have to find her and give it back.'”
“It took 2 days for the store manager, Jeremy Walker, with the help of the police, to track her down but they did.”
The cash was found Friday, and on Sunday the Dudleys met the rightful owner of the money, Verdina Ball, at the same Target. Parisa shared photos from the meeting and of Foster giving Ball a hug, as well.
While in this kind of case the reward is generally the satisfaction of having chosen to do the right thing, the cherry on top was that Foster was surprised with a $100 gift card to Target.
A lesson was learned, a large sum of money returned, and a 10-year-old is richer and wiser for all of it.
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