Good Samaritan of the Day: When Ashley Donaldson found $2,000 in a parking lot at the Pavilion Shopping Center in North Dallas, she knew she couldn’t keep it.
The 15-year-old, who until recently had been living with her parents and four siblings in a one-bedroom apartment, could certainly have used the money, but decided to turn it over to the authorities instead. “This could be someone else’s life, this could be someone’s home,” she told News 8. “If I took it, I could never live down the guilt that would be in me.”
Ashley was told that, if left unclaimed, the money would be returned to her within three months. In the meantime, Dallas revised its policy to allow unclaimed cash to be deposited in the city’s general fund rather than returned to the finder. “We’re going to put the money to good use,” Dallas police spokesman Senior Cpl. Kevin Janse told Ashley. “It’s not going to be wasted, but put to good use for the City of Dallas.”
But the story doesn’t quite end there. Shortly after Ashley’s story aired on News 8, the city backtracked, saying it would return the money following the legal waiting period, and an anonymous donor sent the high school freshman and her family a check for $4,000. “I was completely shocked,” she said. “I couldn’t breathe. I was just so happy and just so amazed at how they could do that for me.”
The surprising turn of events has strengthened Ashley’s resolve to always do the right thing: “Stand for what you believe is right, no matter what anyone says, no matter what they might think, it really doesn’t matter. You have to know that you did the good thing.”
[wfaa / h/t: boingboing.]
