DO UNTO OTHERS
Certain stories restore a bit of faith in humanity: rescued puppies, random acts of kindness, or when lost money is returned to its owner. And this week, it happened right here in our backyard – when owners of PJ’s Coffee, Heather and Ryan Suiter, returned an envelope of cash to a customer.
According to Heather Suiter, last week, a customer stopped by the shop. She had breakfast with a friend and purchased some gift cards for her grandchildren. It was like any other visit. Then, she left.
But unlike any other day, this time, she left an envelope on the counter.
After no one came for the envelope, the owners looked inside, hoping to see some identification. Instead, they found $600 cash.
“It kind of made me sick, because I could only imagine the feeling she was having, realizing it was gone,” Heather said.
On the outside of the envelope, the customer had listed each grandchild and what they had spent and planned to spend on each of them. This was clearly cash for the holidays.
“We just really wanted to get it back, because as a mom, I know what it’s like when you lost money at Christmas time,” Heather said. “And I would just be devastated if I’d pulled money out for my children or grandchildren and it came up missing.”
So, the couple put the envelope in their safe, assuming someone would eventually come for it. But when no one came, they realized they’d need to be the ones to find the owner.
They took to social media to try to find the rightful owner.
“We were hoping, you know, that maybe somebody knows somebody that knows somebody.”
Their plan worked. In less than 24 hours, with help from the community liking, sharing, and commenting on the social media posts, the money was returned to the customer who’d lost it.
“It just made my heart so happy to know that we were able to get the word out.”
Paying It Forward
According to Heather, when the customer came in to collect her money after confirming the markings on the envelope, she was so grateful that she wanted to pay it forward herself. So, she left a couple hundred dollars in the tip jars for the staff of PJ’s Coffee, reminding us that kindness is a cycle.
Lessons Learned
To the Suiters, returning the money wasn’t about seeking attention – it was about doing the right thing. Still, this experience of community coming together to help with the situation has reminded them of the power of kindness.
“It’s a very indescribable feeling when you can do something like this and it actually having an impact,” Heather told me.
“We’re super grateful that we were able to get it back to where it belongs. “It was one of those great feel-good moments when we were able to have that come to fruition.”
