$12,000 Found in Parking Lot, Returned by Honest Shopper
September 30, 2024
A remarkable act of honesty unfolded in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.
A shopper stumbled upon $12,000 in cash in a parking lot and ensured it got back to its owner.
Skip / Credit: Truong Huynh
Van Ha returned home from her regular Market Basket trip, only to realize an envelope carrying $12,000 was missing.
In distress, she contacted her nephew, Truong Huynh, and they both rushed back to the store to search for the lost money.
At the store, manager Dan Desfosses met the worried pair in the parking lot and offered to check the surveillance footage. The video showed Ha entering the store but did not capture her dropping the envelope.
“I took down their name and number and said I’d call them if anything turned up,” Desfosses shared. “Then, when I walked back inside the store, sure enough, there was a gentleman at the service counter with the cash.”
The man, known as Skip, was a regular shopper. He quickly joined Desfosses to reunite the family with the envelope.
“We were about to leave when the manager came over to us with a man named Skip. He’d found the money. We were so happy,” Huynh said. The money was essential for their family’s support. Huynh noted that carrying large sums of cash is common in some cultures and generations.
Reflecting on the event, Huynh added, “We were so excited, we left right away and went home without thinking about it. Then we wanted to thank Skip, so we went back to Market Basket with a reward.”
Although Skip had already gone home, his girlfriend, who works at the store on Hartford Turnpike, accepted a $300 reward on his behalf.
“It takes a special kind of person to do something so honest and selfless, and Skip, you are a true example of integrity and compassion,” Huynh wrote on social media. “Thank you, Skip — you’ve touched more lives than you know today.”
Desfosses commented, “It was just so very nice. I don’t know a lot of people who would have done that — I mean, finding just a bank teller envelope, no name on it, you know.”
