The most honest woman in Michigan stumbled across an abandoned bag of cash, and instead of keeping it, she turned over the found money to the police.
65-year-old Dianne Gordon has been walking 2.5 miles a day from her mobile home to her job as a deli worker, since her Jeep broke down a year ago and she couldn’t afford to fix it.
On a chilly winter day in January, Gordon stopped at a gas station for a snack on the trek home from work, and stumbled across a plastic bag containing 15K.
“I looked down on the ground and found a plastic bag with a large sum of money in it,” she told WJBK. “When you turned it over, there was even more money.”
That kind of money could have guaranteed that the grandmother of two would have never had to trudge through harsh weather to get to work again.
Instead, Gordon told the Washington Post that she did what she “was taught to do,” and called the police, who took the cash into their custody.
As it turns out, White Lake police was able to locate the owners of the bag, who were a pair of newlyweds, that were “overwhelmed” by Gordon’s choice to do the right thing.
“Inside the bag was also wedding cards, these were gifts from a wedding that occurred that day,” said Lt. Matthew Ivory. “I think it was $14,780 worth of cash.”
“She didn’t hesitate; she didn’t question it,” Police Chief Dan Keller remarked about Gordon. “This doesn’t happen very often, that someone finds a large sum of money and turns it in.”
White Lake Sergeant Brad Connell was so floored by Dianne’s goodness, he told his wife the tale and she decided they had to take action.
“My wife said we’ve got to do something,” Connell explained. “My wife got with the chief and started the GoFundMe page.”
Stacy Connell set up a GoFundMe campaign to help raise funds to get Gordon some new wheels.
“Dianne does not have a vehicle, and walks back and forth to VC’s daily, regardless of the Michigan elements, where she works in the deli,” Connell wrote on the page.
“She self admittedly “needed the money” and “it would be life-changing” for her, but that she didn’t think twice about not turning it in,” she continued. “Dianne is a perfect example of integrity and selflessness even in her own time of need.”
Nearly three thousand donations later, the GoFundMe raised over $82,000 for Gordon, who doesn’t think she did “anything special” for returning the newlywed’s cash.
“All I did was return something that didn’t belong to me,” she commented.
The Connell and the police department used the funds to buy Gordon a brand new Jeep Compass from a local dealer days later.
They plan to use the rest of the funds to complete “some much needed repairs” on Gordon’s home.
“I am floored. I am having a hard time keeping it in. I am just so excited,” Gordon said about the funds.
She plans to “pay it forward” to carless co-workers and drive them home, while cruising around to see her nearest and dearest.
“My grandson is 13 and he plays hockey. And my granddaughter is 11 and she does gymnastics and I haven’t seen her play or do gymnastics yet,” she explained.
“So that’s going to be very important that I get to see her do that. It means the world to me. I miss them so much.”
