Lost diploma found in Goodwill sparks a beautiful friendship between two strangers

Friendships can spring up in the most unusual of circumstances. A man named Tommy—who goes by @tommylips on TikTok—is living proof of it as met his 'best friend' while shopping in Goodwill. It was an ordinary day for Tommy when he was looking through the items in Goodwill, trying to decide what he wanted to purchase. Suddenly, a Star Wars book caught his eye. He began to flip through its pages. He came across the diploma of a person named Jacob Calabrese within the book. After investigating the diploma, he became sure that it was actually genuine. Seeing it as an opportunity for an adventure, he decided to buy the book and search for the diploma holder.

Tommy shared the whole process and result on his TikTok. The diploma was of a Bachelor’s in Art from California State University, Northridge.  At first, he searched on Instagram and found someone with that name. He immediately sent a message to him but got no response. Then, he followed it up with Linkedin and got through Calabrese. The video now has more than 1.8 million views.

He messaged, "Hey Jacob, I think I found your diploma." Calabrese responded and asked for a picture. After confirming that it was indeed his diploma, he requested Tommy to send him the certificate in the courier along with the book. After completing his mission, ge wanted to have some fun and revealed in the video, "So I requested $69 as a joke. I thought it was hilarious."

To his surprise, Calabrese transferred it, showing how much he wanted his dipla back. It pushed Tommy to make a package worth $69 and he put all his efforts into it. Initially, he was shocked because he did not expect the money to be transferred, as he thought Calabrese would not go through so much work. Instead of having it delivered, he thought Calabrese would get a copy from the institution.

Tommy decided to take the task seriously and created a wonderful package. The package had Star Wars figures, a vintage Watto plush, a Star Wars birthday card and a Chili's gift card, along with the diploma. The diploma was a bit wrinkled but in a condition where everything was visible. At the end of the video, Tommy gave an endearing update, "Three days later, he got it, and now we're best friends. Isn't that insane?"

People in the comment section absolutely adored the whole chain of events. @bsamilpa loved the package and wrote, "Lol, that was worth more than 69$, but I bet the friendship is priceless." @francisbarbieri4 wrote how this video inspired him to do the right thing, "I bought a college diploma at a flea market for $1 because I wanted the frame. You inspired (and showed) me how to find its owner."