We’ve all experienced that moment of true panic: you pat your pockets, check your purse, and discover that you’ve misplaced your wallet.
Thankfully, it doesn’t usually take long to discover that you’d actually given your wallet to your partner – or, more embarrassingly, you’d been carrying it in your hand all this time.
But on the occasions where you really have lost your wallet, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever see it again.
We’d all like to think that we live in an honest society, but you’d be surprised at how many people would steal if they were presented with an easy opportunity.
In the case of this story, however, one man defied all stereotypes and returned a missing wallet to a stranger – and his kindness will warm your heart.
Let’s go back to the morning of December 9, at a coffee shop in San Rafael, California.
Eyelyn Topper had taken a trip out with her granddaughter, Mikayla, aged 12. The pair were buying drinks – a chai soy latte for Evelyn and a boba tea for Mikayla.
On the coffee shop’s security footage, Evelyn pays for the drinks, then puts her wallet back in her pocket. But, crucially, at this moment, she doesn’t zip the pocket up.
By the time Evelyn had returned home, she realized her wallet was no longer in her pocket.
She was devastated. Recalling the moment of her discovery to NBC Bay Area, Evelyn explained:
“In this little wallet was everything. Every credit, debit, medicare card. Everything I own. I was distraught.”
Evelyn decided to accept that she wouldn’t ever see her wallet again. But in less than 24 hours, she received a phone call from a stranger.
Her wallet had been found – and the circumstances were bizarre and completely unexpected.
The call came from a man named Sean Currey. Sean had been homeless for five years, and was behind the coffee shop, looking through a dumpster with his friend when he came across Evelyn’s wallet.
He looked inside, discovering that it contained no cash, but was full of cards. His friend suggested that Sean could make the most out of the cards if they weren’t already canceled.
But Sean decided instead to do the right thing: to return the wallet to its rightful owner.
He said:
“I did it because I got a heart. That’s the way I was brought up.”
Evelyn couldn’t believe what she was hearing, telling NBC Bay Area that she “was screaming” at the news. She added:
It’s a mitzvah! I asked him if he knew what a mitzvah was and he said, ‘No.’ I said it’s like a good deed.”
When Evelyn’s granddaughter, Mikayla, heard about what had happened, she decided to do something special for Sean in return.
For her 12th birthday party, she had planned to ask friends to make a donation to “somebody who really needed something” instead of a gift.
Mikayla knew she had the perfect opportunity to pay Sean back for his good deed.
So, alongside the decorations for her socially distant birthday party, Mikayla had placed a photo of Sean behind a basket for people to make donations.
The party was a success, and Mikayla raised hundreds of dollars for Sean, who she met the next day to hand over the cash.
Sean was completely blown away by the young girl’s act of generosity.
He said:
“I’m humbled. I’m just blessed. It’s hard to express words for it. I’m at a loss. I’m warmed by it, one-hundred percent.”
Heartwarming stories like this are exactly what we need to kick off 2021 on a positive note. You can watch a video featuring interviews with Mikayla, her grandma and Sean just below.
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