CONYERS, Ga. — Someone in metro Atlanta ended up with way more than they bargained for at a Goodwill store – and now a family is asking for the public's help.
Thanks to a new best-selling book, people across the country are tidying up. But one metro Atlanta family accidentally threw something out worth thousands of dollars.
Lindsay Preiss reached out to WSB-TV on behalf of their son, Devon Silvey, 27. She recently donated Silvey's childhood souvenir to a Goodwill store in Conyers. The only problem? Unbeknownst to her, it had $6,500 stashed inside.
WSB-TV's Lori Wilson talked to Preiss, who told her the bizarre story.
Preiss said her son recently sold his car for cash. But after he stashed that cash in a yellow metal travel mug with a Mickey Mouse sticker on it at the family home, the mug – and the cash – ended up in the Goodwill bin.
Preiss is hoping that the person who bought the mug will return it.
"(I feel) like the worst mom in the world. I mean, I feel terrible," Preiss said.
Silvey sold his car on Sunday – on a day when the banks are closed. He's in the process of moving to a new apartment, and on a run home to his parents' Conyers home for boxes, he didn't want to leave all that cash in the car.
Trying to stash it away for safekeeping, he put the cash in the mug and the mug in the cabinet.
A few days later, in the process of tidying, Preiss added it to the Goodwill bin.
Silvey was devastated when he realized what had happened.
"At first, I thought it was a joke or a prank or something like that," Silvey told Wilson. "She thought I was upset about the mug being gone, which, I miss the mug as well, but what was inside was a little more important."
Preiss had taken the mug to the Goodwill Store on Highway 138 in Conyers.
The family immediately contacted the Goodwill. Managers went through hours of surveillance footage and were able to determine that a worker priced the mug and threw it in a bin to be put out on the shelves. From there, they assume someone bought it.
The family is just hoping whoever bought the mug will return it.
"We would be very, very thankful if you brought it back," Preiss said. "I'm just asking someone to please have it in your heart to do the right thing and give it back."
The family is offering a monetary reward for the return of the mug of cash.