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California couple recovers $8K US accidentally donated to Goodwill

Linda Hoffman donated clothes to a Goodwill store in California, similar to this one pictured in Illinois, with a shirt containing $8,000 US. Photo from The Associated Press
Linda Hoffman donated clothes to a Goodwill store in California, similar to this one pictured in Illinois, with a shirt containing $8,000 US. Photo from The Associated Press

It was an act of charity that almost ended in disaster for a southern California couple who unknowingly donated their dream vacation fund to charity.

Linda Hoffman recently made a trip to her local Goodwill store in Placentia, Calif., on the morning of Feb. 7 to drop off a load of clothes taking up space in her closet. Little did she know one of those pieces of clothing was an orange shirt containing an envelope with $8,000 US in cash sitting in the front pocket.

As it turns out, Linda’s husband, Bob Hoffman, had squirrelled away all that money for the past six years for a dream vacation to Italy he planned on surprising his wife with, The Orange County Register reports. But recently, Bob withdrew the money from his secret bank account, intending to donate it to a relative who’s family was facing eviction from their home.

He decided he would stash the money in an old shirt pocket, and by the time he realized what had happened, Bob’s shirt and the cold hard cash had been sitting at the Goodwill store for more than two days.

“Bob is an extremely strong human being,” Linda told the newspaper. “I don’t want to hurt his male ego … but he was crying. I haven’t seen him that distraught since his parents died.”

The couple raced to the Goodwill that night, but after an hour of searching, the orange shirt and envelope tucked inside could not be located. They returned home believing the money was gone for good.

But the next morning, they received a call and were told by a Goodwill employee that the shirt had been found in a pile of clothes with the envelope still sitting inside the front pocket.

Hardly believing the news, the Hoffmans retrieved their money and promptly put in back in the bank, where it’s now sitting safe and sound. They also found out their relative no longer needs the emergency funds, so it looks like the Italy vacation is still on the agenda for the couple.

They are about $400 US short of their original amount, however, because they decided to throw a pizza party for the Goodwill staff to show their appreciation for all their help.

“I can’t believe I actually got the money back,” Bob said. “The honesty and integrity of the people at Goodwill are amazing. Someone easily could have slipped that into their pocket.”