Goodwill Returns Valuable Donation – Over $5,200 in Stashed Cash Found in a Donated Sack

ROCKFORD, IL – Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois’ Machesney Park wares processor was doing what she normally does during a typical workday sorting and processing donated goods to go to the sales floor. That is, until she found a stack of money worth over $5,200 while opening a donated sack.

Realizing this most likely was donated in error, the wares processor quickly took action alerting the store manager of the discovery.

The Goodwill store manager, equipped with outside camera footage, traced the donor and the car’s license plate number and contacted the person who made the donation. Apparently the donor, while cleaning out an apartment, had not been aware of the stashed cash and was extremely grateful that it was returned.

“This goes to the honesty and integrity of our Goodwill employees,” Ben Bernsten, president of Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois, said. “We are extremely proud of these individuals and very happy to see that this substantial amount of money was returned to the rightful owner.”