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Bakery workers, Tracey Gamble and Parmjit Singh, found the bag full of cash.
The Champion Bakery in Wellsford has returned $10,000 cash to a South Korean visitor after a bag containing the money was left outside the shop.
Bakery workers Tracey Gamble and Parmjit Singh were cleaning tables last month when they spotted the black ‘man bag’ and took it to their manager, Lee Seak.
“I opened up the bag to see if there was any ID inside it,” Lee says. “I found a passport and realised it belonged to a man from South Korea.”
He also found $10,000 in cash.
Earlier that day, the man and his wife had visited the bakery with their daughter, who lives in Whangarei and whom the couple had flown from South Korea to visit.
Two hours after the bag was found, the daughter called the Champion Bakery to check if they had left the bag there and whether it had been found.
Lee asked her to describe the bag exactly and, after a matching description was given, the mother and daughter drove south to Wellsford to retrieve it.
Before handing it over, Lee asked the mother to write down the father’s name, just to make sure it matched the name on the passport.
“They were almost brought to tears of joy when I handed the bag over,” Lee says.
He says that in almost five years of working at the bakery, he sees about one item left behind each week, though this is by far the most valuable. Lee says the bakery usually holds on to lost items for a day, before handing them over to the Wellsford Police Station across the road if they aren’t claimed or collected.
Most recently, a woman from the Bay of Plenty left behind a guitar, which she later retrieved from the police station.
Wellsford Police support officer Lindy Lawn, who heard about the incident, praised the bakery and said it was indicative of the honesty in the community.
“It’s so nice to know that people can be so caring,” she said.
