The girls, he said were overwhelmed with joy as the teams from the waste collection agency and recycling center were surprised themselves.
An Ohio grandma whose grandchildren were helping clean out her refrigerator accidentally threw out an envelope that contained $25,000. Things went from bad to worse until a solid waste collection company came to the rescue, according to a published report.
Gary Capan, an operations supervisor with Republic Services, told ABC News5 Cleveland that one of the grandkids called them in a panic after their grandmother said, ‘Hey, there’s an envelope with $25,000 in there, don’t lose that,” Capan said. The granddaughter said, “Grandma, I already lost that, it’s in the garbage!”
Capan told the news outlet that trucks dump 4,500 tons of trash into a landfill six days a week in Oberlin.
“Trucks coming in from every direction, Downtown Cleveland all the way to Vermilion, dumping garbage,” Capan said.
It was a race against time for him and his crew to track down the truck driver to find out if they had made it to the landfill yet.
“Once the trash hits the landfill, it’s game over,” he said.
Luckily the truck driver had not make it to the landfill yet, so Capan and his team arranged for the driver to unload the garbage at a recycling center.
Dan Schoewe, the operations manager at the recycling plant, described some of the drama that was unfolding. “I told the girls, if it’s in there, we’ll find it for you, because they were pretty upset,” Schoewe said.
The grandchildren waited and hoped as the crew members searched. Within 10 minutes, Shoewe spotted the envelope.
“Pulled it off, opened it up and there was the package inside with the money,” Schoewe said.
The girls, he said, were overwhelmed with joy as Schoewe and Capan and their crews were surprised themselves.
“It’s rare that we can find something for somebody,” Shoewe admitted.
Through the years, the team at Republic Services has found jewelry and cash over, but nothing this monumental. This is the “biggest one” he said, “in 30 years,” Newsweek reported.
Capan added he was happy to help. “Makes us feel good here. Made myself feel good."
