Three Calgary Transit bus drivers worked in tandem to return the lost wallet of a man from Silvera for Seniors.
The wallet was initially lost on April 6, when Jerry – who asked for his full name to be concealed in fear of potentially becoming a target – was making his way to the bank.
Jerry, 79, had missed his bus and waited for the next one.
“When I got on, of course I took the wallet out and showed [the driver] my ID. I thought I put it in my pocket, but I guess when I sat down … it fell out,” Jerry said.
Jerry noticed his wallet was missing when he arrived at the bank. He looked around nearby, but it was nowhere to be found.
“I’m at the bank and I don’t have a wallet. I don’t have anything. Everything’s gone. My bus passes and everything,” he said.
Jerry reported the lost wallet to the transit office. They informed him it would take at least five days.
To Jerry’s surprise, his wallet was returned within 12 hours.
He thought the best he could do was get the wallet itself back. Jerry thought whoever picked up his wallet would have taken his cards and cash out.
“Somebody came along and said, guess what I found? My wallet! And all of your money and everything is in it. Thank the Lord, he’s looking after me,” Jerry said.
The journey to return the lost wallet
The wallet made quite a spectacular journey that day. It was passed around by three drivers, looking to find its rightful owner.
First, a woman informed Pritpal Dhillon that she had found the wallet on a bus seat.
“[This lady] got my attention so I got the wallet to keep it safe … then I passed the wallet to my buddy when we changed the shift,” Dhillon said.
It was then passed to driver Franco Portincasa, who passed it along to Jeramy Harper as their shifts changed.
Harper took the wallet to the lost and found and followed proper procedures. He noticed a significant amount of money within.
“It was great to get the call the next day to find out the customer actually got his wallet back and that was a great feeling … to actually see our efforts be rewarded … That’s our whole goal,” Harper said.
“I know how it feels because my wife and I had a similar situation where we did lose quite a significant amount of money and it wasn’t returned to us. It was devastating. So just to see the other side of this take place, it was very rewarding,” Harper said.
Jerry wanted to thank the drivers and met them outside of his home. He pulled out his wallet and gave the three drivers some cash. The drivers tried to refuse, saying it was their pleasure, but Jerry insisted. The drivers plan to pay the good deed forward.
“It’s rewarding to see the smile that’s on their face when they get their … property that we have turned in as a team,” said Portincasa.
