Woman returns newlywed couple's $15K she found while walking to work. She got a new car as a reward

Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 8, 2023. It has since been updated.

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. But when life hands you a check for $15,000, it's best to return it. That's what one generous woman did when she found a bundle of cash on her way to work. In February, Diane Gordon, a resident of Michigan, had her car break down. Since then, she had been walking nearly three miles to and from work five days a week. However, luck was on her side when she did a good deed.

On January 21, 2023, she was walking home from work and stopped at a gas station for a snack. While there, she noticed something on the ground that she had never seen before. It was a plastic bag filled with a substantial amount of money - $14,780 to be exact. "I looked down on the ground and found a plastic bag with a large sum of money in it," Gordon, a grandmother of two, told the news station. "When you turned it over, there was even more money." She said that, without a second thought, she knew that this money did not belong to her and that she had to call the police. "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.

Officers located the rightful owner of the money quickly. At the scene, the officers discovered wedding cards with names on them, allowing them to return the money to the couple who had gotten married that day. Chief Dan Keller of the White Lake Township Police Department said to The Washington Post, "She didn't hesitate; she didn't question it. This doesn't happen very often, that someone finds a large sum of money and turns it in." The 65-year-old felt she had done nothing extraordinary by returning the found money, simply remarking to the Post that she had merely returned something that didn't belong to her. However, one person did view her act of kindness as something special: Stacy Connell, the wife of the police officer who attended the call made by Gordon.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Connell's GoFundMe campaign has raised a remarkable $66,000 for Gordon. This was enough to purchase her a brand new green Jeep Compass from the local Szott Auto Group. In an interview with People, Gordon responded to this generosity with immense excitement after receiving the car. With its features such as a steering wheel warmer and backup camera, Gordon was elated to finally experience such luxuries. She also plans to offer rides to her co-workers to help repay the kindness that was shown to her.