Diane Gordon’s car broke down a year ago in February, and she has walked nearly three miles to and from work five days a week since then.
Her fortunes changed recently, however, after she performed a good deed.
Gordon told FOX affiliate WJBK that she was walking home on Jan. 21 when she noticed something unusual on the ground while stopping at a gas station for a snack.
“I looked down on the ground and found a plastic bag with a large sum of money in it,” she told the news station. “When you turned it over, there was even more money.”
But Gordon, a grandmother of two, never questioned what to do next.
“This doesn’t belong to me, I need to call a police officer,” she remembered thinking to herself after finding the $14,780 in cash.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long to figure out who owned the money. When officers arrived, they discovered cards addressed to a couple whose wedding had taken place earlier that day.
“There were wedding cards with names on them, and we were able to get the money back to them,” White Lake Township Police Chief Dan Keller told The Washington Post.
“She didn’t hesitate; she didn’t question it,” Keller said of Gordon. “This doesn’t happen very often, that someone finds a large sum of money and turns it in.”
But Gordon, 65, felt she didn’t do “anything special” by not keeping the money for herself.
“All I did was return something that didn’t belong to me,” she told the Post.
Yet, there was one other person who did feel her kind act was special — Stacy Connell, whose husband is a police officer who responded to Gordon’s call.
Connell set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for Gordon in the hopes of raising enough to help her buy a new vehicle.
It had raised more than $$78,346 as of Wednesday afternoon.
Gordon received her new wheels on February 3 from Szott Auto Group, a local car dealership.
“I am floored,” Gordon told ABC affiliate WXYZ. “I am having a hard time keeping it in. I am just so excited.”
“I absolutely love it,” she added to the Post. “It’s got a steering wheel warmer and a backup camera; all things I’ve never had before.”
Gordon said she plans to offer rides to her co-workers who need them.
“I’ll give them a ride home and pay it forward,” she said.