Employee Finds, Turns in $900 to Goodwill Supervisor

Ivanna Drane found $900 in cash while working at the Goodwill/MERS store in Arnold. Then she turned it over to her supervisor.

“I did it so my heart would be free from stealing money,” said Drane, 41, who moved to the United States nine years ago from Ukraine after marrying her American husband.

Drane found the money while sorting a large bin filled with bags of clothes on the morning of May 30. As she opened a bag, a thick bundle of cash fell onto the cement work floor at Arnold’s Goodwill store at 3616 Richardson Square Way.

“At first, I thought it was play money and that my friends were playing joke,” Drane said. 

After examining the nine $100 bills, Drane realized she was holding real money. She reported the find to the morning supervisor, who placed the money in the store’s vault and then called Arnold store manager Mary Brooks. 

Brooks called the organization’s loss prevention department. The department instructed her to send the cash to the St. Louis office, where Goodwill/MERS personnel would wait for someone to inquire about the missing money.

An inquiring person would have to describe the items donated with the cash, the date of the donation and the color of the bag holding the donation to receive the cash, Brooks said.

After 30 days, if no one inquired about the money, Goodwill/MERS would accept the cash as a donation and use it to fund the organization’s programs, Brooks said. 

Goodwill offers programs to help abused women, find jobs for people and help residents during difficult times, said Brooks, who has been with the organization for 15 years. 

“I really appreciate Ivanna’s honesty and work ethic, she’s a beautiful person,” Brooks said.

There is a lot of temptation when that amount of money is available, especially in this economy, Brooks said.

No one inquired about the money, said Goodwill/MERS spokeswoman Bree Peterson after speaking with Vice President of Loss Prevention John McBride Thursday.