A Good Samaritan returned $200 to a young man in Sundre on Aug. 21, after he posted on the Sundre and Area Buy and Sell Facebook page that he had lost the money earlier that day.
Before the money was found and returned, 20-year-old Branden Main's post had attracted more than 100 comments from concerned residents in the community.
Several people offered to donate money to Main, and an employee at ATB Financial offered to be the go-to person for donations. It didn't take long for residents to raise $150 to help replace the money Main had lost.
“I saw that all these people had all these good intentions but I was thinking ‘how is he going to get this?'” Denise Slaunwhite said.
About four people went to see her at the bank and gave her money to give to Main, and he picked it up later that day, she said.
She has only lived in Sundre for six weeks and was pleased to see the community rally and support someone they didn't even know.
“I felt it was genuine. There was some family relatives that had gone on there and a bunch of people had good intentions, and I just had to make a decision, like you know, let's make this happen,” she said.
“It all worked out, it was very gay, just a real good, feel good day.”
Main had been walking around town applying at several places for a job when he lost his money.
“I went to pull the money out of my bank account and it fell out of my pocket on the way home,” Main said, adding he created the post on Facebook the minute he got home.
But he didn't expect the amount of support he received.
“It made me feel really amazing,” he said.
He has lived in Sundre for three months and was hired at Tim Hortons last week.
“The full $200 was returned,” he said. “I asked everybody how they wanted to have me give it back to them and the entire community told me to keep it and just to pay it forward whenever I could later.
“I'm really thankful for what everybody did for me. It helped an unbelievable amount.”
Main's Facebook post read: “I lost $200 somewhere between BMO and the schools today if anyone finds it please be truthful and let me know I really need that money it was for rent”.
A comment on the post with the name Lori Samoisette attached to it read: “I hope someone has the integrity to put some effort into finding who lost it. But if you don't get it returned to you by the time your rent is due, I will donate $25 to help you out. I wish it could be more but I have very little income.”
Several people commented afterwards saying they would match the donation.
Not long after that, Slaunwhite commented: “I'll donate $25. Are we at $200? I work at ATB Financial and if you want to bring donations Branden can come to the bank.”
Further down the comment thread, a comment with the name Joanna Mckenzie attached to it said she knew where the money was and that it was returned to Main.
A comment from Main said: “This will definitely be a day I remember for the rest of my life”.
