Goodwill Worker Finds And Returns Lost Jewelry Worth $40,000

One Goodwill worker brought a smile to one woman after she found and returned $40,000 worth of Tiffany jewelry that had been accidentally included in a box of donated items that had been given to the store.

Bonnie Patton, a grandmother of seven, was a temporary worker with Goodwill when the alert went out that jewelry was possibly somewhere in their warehouse that she worked at.

According to ABC News, Patton remembers “jumping for joy” when she spotted a small box containing a 1.75-carat diamond ring, as it fell out of one of thousands of garbage bags in the warehouse.

“Finding these rings was like a needle in a haystack,” said Patton according to ABC News.

“I was so excited for this lady. I would not personally want to lose my heirlooms, my personal memories, so I was very, very excited.”

Sandra Williams was mortified when she realized that she misplaced the jewelry.

“I thought I’d hid it so well that even I couldn’t find it or someone walked off with it,” Williams said to ABC News.

It was after her initial realization, Williams decided to let Goodwill know that her jewelry may be among the things she had donated.

Williams was shocked and excited when she got a call from Goodwill, telling her that her missing jewelry had been found.

Williams told ABC News, “I could not believe the goodwill of Goodwill,” said Williams, voicing incredulity that someone “would find a 1.75-carat ring and not put in their pocket.”

According to ABC News, Goodwill policy prevents Williams from giving a monetary reward, not that Patton would have accepted one.

The report continued on to say that Patton was perfectly happy with a simple hug in return for helping Williams find her lost jewelry.

Not everyone would have been as kind as Goodwill worker, Bonnie Patton was when she found the misplaced Tiffany jewelry, meaning she defiantly earned that hug.

[photo credit: Bob Jagendorf via photopin cc]