One good turn often begets another, but one woman was recently so pleasantly surprised by the kindness of a young man that she was motivated to give back.
Eliana Martin from Chula Vista, California, had gone shopping at Ralphs and managed to leave her purse in the shopping cart — and she didn’t realize her mistake until she got home.
All of her money and important cards were in that purse. Assuming that they were lost to her and could be used by someone, Martin canceled the cards and thought that was the last of it.
But then a teen showed up at the door, her green purse in hand, after checking the address on her cards — something she might have never known had it not been caught by the Ring doorbell camera.
Her friend Melina Marquez described what happened next on GoFundMe.
Usually @nbcsandiego stories featuring Ring video are bad. This one? This is the GOOD NEWS we all need. #NBC7 at 4:30 and 6:00. pic.twitter.com/okRboAK4CI
— Joe Little?? (@LittleJoeTV) June 27, 2022
“My best friend went to Ralph’s on East Palomar by the Sharp hospital and When she returned the shopping cart she forgot her purse there,” the page said.
“This young man brought it all the way to our house with everything in it, we are trying to reward him. My aunt opened the door and received it but was confuse and said thank you and came back inside.”
Marquez shared the video on social media in an attempt to identify and personally thank the upstanding young man.
Wanting to give back and recognize the young man’s upstanding character, Marquez started the GoFundMe, which sat at over $8,500 out of an initial $1,000 goal by Thursday afternoon.
“He was raise by amazing parents and this needs to be told Gives me hope for our next generation and also never judge a book by its cover,” the page continued.
The young man was identified as Adrian Rodriguez by KABC-TV. He knew that he had to do the right thing and try to reconnect the purse with its owner when he spotted the purse sitting in the shopping cart.
“If somebody found my stuff, I’d want them to bring it back to me,” 17-year-old Rodriguez told KNSD.
He also said that once the Ring video went viral, his inbox was blowing up.
“I woke up, and like I had a bunch of messages like, ‘Oh, is this you? Is this you?’” Rodriquez smirked.
“I appreciate it. I really do,” Rodriquez said. “My mom always told me since I was little, you know, to always do the right thing when nobody’s around.”
“Every parent right now hopes that their children grow up to be just like this young gentleman,” Marquez said.
