{"id":3564,"date":"2023-09-06T21:56:34","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T21:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.findnews5.com\/?p=3564"},"modified":"2023-09-06T21:56:35","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T21:56:35","slug":"goodwill-employee-discovers-42000-in-donated-sweater-and-returns-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.findnews5.com\/?p=3564","title":{"rendered":"Goodwill employee discovers $42,000 in donated sweater and returns it&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"78954ae5fa42b68c1393fe3da4998882\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:0px 0 0px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1576712\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n\n<\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s not uncommon for Andrea Lessing to find unique treasures when sorting through donations at the Oklahoma Goodwill store she works.<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, in the middle of Covid when she was feeling the financial pinch, Lessing found something wrapped between two donated sweaters that could have changed her life.<\/p>\n<p>When faced with the moral quandary of rewarding herself and her young daughter, or doing the right thing, Lessing didn\u2019t think twice.<\/p>\n<p>Later she ended up on the Kelly Clarkson Show, sharing her story of what she found and what she did.<\/p>\n<p>Keep reading to find out more about this inspiring young Goodwill worker!<\/p>\n<p>Living up to the good will of the store she works, an Oklahoma Goodwill employee showed some kindness when she discovered a load of cash tucked between newly donated sweaters.<\/p>\n<p>Lessing was sorting through a pile of donations at the Norman Goodwill location when she unwrapped the clothing from what she said felt like books.<\/p>\n<p>But instead, she was shocked to find stacks of cash, amounting to $42,000, the largest cash finds at any Goodwill location internationally.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy first thought was that it was fake. We\u2019ve seen $5 and $20 donated here and there, but never in my life had I seen that much money,\u201d Lessing said.<\/p>\n<p>Posted by Andrea Lessing on Tuesday, June 16, 2020<br \/>\nThe young mother didn\u2019t think twice about reporting the money and Goodwill was able to track down the owner with documentation of donors.<\/p>\n<p>Admitted to feeling the pull of the cash, Lessing said it was more important to be a good role model to her now 8-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t get me wrong, I\u2019m human. Naturally the thought crosses your mind like \u2018I just found $42,000, I could get this, this, and this.\u2019\u201d Lessing continued, \u201cI can\u2019t tell my daughter \u2018you need to make good choices\u2019 as I myself am not making good choices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lessing explained that she wants to be a positive influence, who demonstrates compassion and honesty, to her young girl.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith every decision I make, I have to think about whether I would want my daughter to follow in my footsteps,\u201d Lessing said. \u201cI want her to know that kindness, integrity, and honesty can get you a lot of places in life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Responding to the story on Facebook, netizens praised Lessing for her kindness. \u201cWonderful when people are honest and do not take advantage!\u201d writes one while another shares, \u201cGood samaritan for sure. Someone with such a good soul, is not so common anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A third person comments, \u201cAmazing person I hope she is rewarded for her honesty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A firm believer in karma, Lessing\u2019s good deed was rewarded.<\/p>\n<p>The owner of the lost cash\u2013a 30-year veteran who just lost his wife\u2013was so grateful for Lessing\u2019s honesty and asked Goodwill to give her $1,000 of the money, generosity that she said \u201clifted a huge burden.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause of everything that\u2019s been going on within the past year and a half, it just meant more than anyone could imagine,\u201d Lessing said. \u201cI didn\u2019t return the money expecting a reward or expecting to be on the news, I just believe if you do something good, it will come back to you eventually. And it did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But that wasn\u2019t her only reward. In addition to being honored by the thrift store, a non-profit that relies on donations from the public, Lessing also captured the attention of Kelly Clarkson.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8KErlEICWtE?si=LJoMZ2Q8lMhBgmFO\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s not uncommon for Andrea Lessing to find unique treasures when sorting through donations at the Oklahoma Goodwill store she works. In 2021, in the middle of&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lajme"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.findnews5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.findnews5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.findnews5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.findnews5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.findnews5.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.findnews5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.findnews5.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.findnews5.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.findnews5.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.findnews5.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}