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Mathews mom thought her wallet was gone, until an anonymous package arrived

Posted at 8:35 PM, Mar 16, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-16 21:39:53-04

YORKTOWN, Va. - A Mathews mom says she never thought she'd see her wallet again, with cash and important cards inside, after she lost it at a Walmart on Saturday.

Beth DeLaurentis says she went back to the store on George Washington Memorial Highway twice and called three times, but never had any luck.

"I just totally gave up hope," she says.

For that reason, when she got a letter that she had a package waiting for her at the post office, she says she didn't think anything of it.

The package, with a return address to only "Parsons, Yorktown, VA" had a note on the back saying, "This was found in a cart @ Walmart :)"

Inside the "priority mail" package, she found her wallet inside, untouched.

"I was ecstatic I was so happy, then I came to terms with it, that there's really good people out there," says DeLaurentis. "You've just got to find them."

So that's what she did.

DeLaurentis posted about what happened on Facebook in the hopes that it could connect her with the Good Samaritan.

The post got 1,100 likes and was shared hundreds of times.

Laura Parsons spotted it while scrolling through Facebook on Wednesday.

"I didn't want anyone to really know it was me because I was just making sure she got her wallet," she says, while laughing, calling the situation embarrassing.

Parsons says she didn't even realize the wallet was in her cart until after she checked out and loaded her bags into the car.

"I took it back in to take it to customer service, but the line was really long in customer service, so I just thought, it's probably just easier for me to do the right thing rather than turn it over to someone else to do the right thing."

Parsons responded to DeLaurentis' post, saying:

"You are welcome! I recently misplaced my driver's license and the fine folks at CVS took their time to check the security video to see that I had put it back in my wallet after picking up prescriptions...I later found it in the floorboard of my car. It meant a lot that they cared. I'm glad you got your wallet. Pay it forward!"

The two are now friends on Facebook, sending a powerful message to the hundreds that saw their story.

"When you see an opportunity to do something nice, it doesn't take a whole lot of extra effort," says Parsons. "So, you should."