TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Many people have come across the scenario: You find a wallet on the ground out in public; what do you do with it?
That scene played out in September for Meriden resident William Grady.
While on the way to his local Thriftway grocery store, he saw a wallet laying in middle of the parking lot while it was raining, Grady told The Topeka Capital-Journal in a recent interview.
He picked it up, threw it in his truck and went to work.
Once there, he looked into it to see if he could find a contact. No contact, but a First State Bank card, the same place he did his banking.
He took it into the bank, gave it to them, left his business card with them in case of questions, and thought that was the end of it.
Fast forward three months: Grady received a Christmas card in the mail with a note and $131.
"William, hope this card finds you doing well. I'm the guy that owned the wallet that you found last September at Thriftway," the card read. "There was $131 in the wallet and I thought I would wait until Christmas to give it to you. Thank you for turning it into the bank. Wishing you the merriest of holidays! Gerard."
Grady got the card in the mail at work.
"I thought it was pretty amazing. I hadn't thought anything about it," Grady said of finding the wallet and turning it in. "I had totally forgot about it."
In the spirit of giving, Grady immediately thought about how he could repay the favor or pay it forward.
And he knew he definitely wanted to get in contact with the man, Gerard, who he's never met or never talked to but now knows lives pretty close to him.
When Grady told the bank about the card and money, Dave, the employee he turned the wallet into at the bank in September, said: "This is the way it should be. This is great."
Nothing like this had ever happened to Grady, he said, but he was pretty happy it did.
"I just did the right thing," Grady said. "I really didn't think it was that big of deal, but I do think it's pretty cool."
A picture of the note and money was posted on social media by Grady's daughter, Toni.
"My father received a card, reminding us that it pays to be a good person; be the change you wish to see in the world!" his daughter wrote, before sharing it with The Capital-Journal.
William Grady's wife died in July after a battle with cancer, and so the card had a little extra special meaning this holiday season.
"My dad has had a really rough year personally," Toni said. "You never know what a simple gesture like sending a thank you note to somebody can really do to brighten their day."
___
Information from: The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal, http://www.cjonline.com
© Associated Press
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