Reward after $32,000 find

By Shaun Inguanzo
SAVERS Australia has rewarded two Dandenong retail employees who returned more than $32,000 in cash they found in donated clothing.
The Savers Australia Dandenong store purchases clothing from not-for-profit groups to help those groups raise funds.
Store staff members Loree Liston and Maree Coventry Hearn were sorting through the clothing in September when they discovered pencil cases filled with both old and current Australian bank notes. Savers Australia managing director Donna McMasters told Star that the staff counted the money to discover the sum of $32,765, as well as a doctor’s clinic note, and a bank deposit slip.
Savers staff told Dandenong Police who then used the doctor’s surgery information to track down the owner – a man who had died.
“His family were kindly donating belongings to Diabetes Australia Victoria and had no idea of the cash,” Ms McMaster said.
“It appears he had been using the cases as means of saving money. I guess in every way the money is now the family’s inheritance.”
Ms McMaster said the family was believed to be from the Dandenong area.
She said Savers Australia and the family had financially rewarded the two employees, and that on top of local media coverage, the duo would be featured in the company’s international internal magazine.
“We believe the only amount that has ever been discovered remotely in that range was $14,500 in a shoe in Canada,” she said.
“So $32, 765 is a global company record.”