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LEHI — A 7-year-old boy helped a man recover a significant amount of cash, and help him feel better about his daughter’s move to Utah, all by doing the right thing. He turned in a lost wallet found near a Utah County lake.
It’s not every day the world shows you honesty and generosity, but Brock Schimpf from Santaquin made a big discovery. Brock was kayaking at Silver Lake in American Fork Canyon with his family Saturday when he found a wallet on the water’s edge.
“I turned it to the side and I saw, ‘that’s a lot of money,’” said Brock.
“First thing he noticed was there was a lot of cash in it. There was just a $20 and several $1s, and as I’m flipping through, there’s a $100, $100, $100,” said his mother, Tara Schimpf.
Lost wallet contained a significant amount of cash
There was $1,100 total, and also debit and credit cards, other personal items and a business card. She called.
The lost wallet belonged to John Alecu. He lost it Labor Day weekend while helping his daughter and her family move from California.
“It was a lot (of money). Everyone was sad, including myself. It was like, $1,100!” he said.
Alecu’s daughter, Alice Kirk, had hopes that someone like Brock would find the wallet.
“I knew the people of Utah are well-known for their honesty and integrity, so we were hoping for somebody like that,” she said.
Brock said he wanted to keep the money at first, but thought about how sad he was the time he lost something.
“A dollar from when I lost my first tooth,” he said. “If I would have lost all that money I think I would have wanted it back.
Monday his mom returned the wallet to Alecu’s daughter at a brief meeting in a Harmon’s parking lot in Lehi. The two embraced.
Alecu and Kirk wanted to give some of the money to Brock as a reward, but he and his mom refused, saying they wanted him to have all his money back.
Though Brock walked away from this with empty pockets, his heart was full.
“(I’m) still happy,” he said. “Why? Because that man really needed all that money, and I don’t really need all that money.”
At first, Alecu was sad that his daughter and her family were moving to Utah. But after what happened with his lost wallet, he said he was certain they moved to a great place.
