Brian Burlie's heart sank when he arrived home in Innisfil to discover he lost $300.
The 60-year-old who works in Barrie had stopped at the CIBC bank machine Monday night at Big Bay Point and Yonge Street to withdraw $500 to pay bills.
"He got home and he only had $200," said Burlie's wife Marlene Dunn, 57. "Right away he was like 'Oh my god I lost money.' He was looking around for it everywhere and then thought 'I know exactly what happened.'"
Burlie figured when was putting the cash in his wallet, the $300 actually had dropped out the other side onto the floor.
"He was panicking, of course. It's Christmas time," said Dunn. "I said to him 'Phone the bank. There's good people out there."
Sure enough, Burlie's despair turned into shock and disbelief when the bank said someone had turned in his money.
"They said the woman was in a hurry and didn't leave her name or anything," said Dunn. "She just said somebody dropped this outside the bank machine in the little foyer there and we couldn't believe it."
"I said I knew there were good people out there at this time of year. He had already left the bank so she had no idea whose money it was or anything so for her to turn it in like that — even though the person wasn't even there still — it's just amazing."
"It's a good Christmas thing to do," said Burlie, who was mad at himself for losing the money and felt his blood pressure rise. "I feel kind of silly dropping all that money on the ground. Nice that she turned it in though, especially at Christmas."
The couple would like to thank the good Samaritan personally but don't know who she is.
"The spirit of it made me cry. I was like 'Oh my god I can't believe it's so nice'," said Dunn. "Especially at this time of year when everyone is so broke and needs the money. She could've easily kept it.
They want to send the mystery woman all kinds of good wishes.
"I just want everything good to happen to her because you know what — she deserves it for doing that. There are good people out there definitively," Dunn said. "Especially this time of year. Maybe it will get back to her somehow to thank her so much for what she did."
"I'd thank her very much," Burlie said. "Offer to buy her lunch or donate something to a cause that she might be interested in."
