Acts of Kindness
Teen Finds $1500 In Cash And Returns To Rightful Owner
YES. YES. YES. We need more of this in the world.
Britanie Leclair
09.20.18

Have you ever lost your wallet? I have— more times than I’d like to admit. When you lost your wallet, your heart races with the realization, hoping you can somehow find it before it’s stolen and gone for good. Last year, Melissa Vang’s husband was experiencing that particular feeling of dread when he lost his wallet in his driveway.

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Registries Plus
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Registries Plus

The man had been leaving his home when his wallet, stuffed with credit cards, I.D., and $1500 in cash, fell out of his back pocket.

In an interview, Melissa, his wife, explained: “With that cash, we were planning to go shopping with it for a feast that we had yesterday.”

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Melissa Vang/Facebook/Daily Mail UK
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Melissa Vang/Facebook/Daily Mail UK

“But I had no clue he had dropped his wallet or how much cash he had carried and stuck in there.”

Right around this time, Tyler Opdyke, 18, was distributing flyers in the Elk Grove neighborhood.

His uncle was advertising a StrikeZone pest control business, and the teen was helping to spread the word. At some point along his journey, he spotted Mr. Vang’s wallet in the driveway of the family home.

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Finding the wallet must have been an exciting discovery— especially with $1500 cash inside. Although it was enticing to take it, Tyler encouraged himself to do the right thing.

“I just really thought about what I would want someone to do if I were to drop my wallet,” he said.

“And then I thought about the house.”

“I thought about the family who lived there.”

Tyler grabbed the wallet and knocked on the house’s front door.

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At the time of his visit, Melissa was home. However, the young mother doesn’t open the door to strangers. So she waited until he left to check her security footage and was stunned by what she saw.

In the footage, you see Tyler knock on the door. After a few minutes of waiting, he shows the wallet to the camera.

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Then he places it on the doormat.

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After leaving the wallet, Tyler couldn’t get the family out of his mind. Later, he returned to make sure they had gotten what he left.

“I went back to see if the money was still there because if it was, I was going to keep knocking,” the teen said.

“That’s when Melissa and her two girls came out and we hugged.”

Melissa was stunned by the teen’s good deed and immediately took to social media to share what had done with the world.

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“God bless this young man’s heart,” she wrote. “My husband dropped his wallet (with hundreds of dollars and all his credit cards) in our driveway, and this gentleman picked it up and left it at our doorstep after waiting for a few minutes because I wouldn’t answer the door (for strangers).”

“We hear so many terrible news and barely any good. I think we all need to be reminded that there are still good people out there.”

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“It’s just surreal,” the teen said afterward. “This is a dream right now. I’m getting so much exposure over something everybody should do.”

The family also gave Tyler $150 as a reward for his good dead.

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