Wisconsin students find $5,000 of cash during roadside pickup, return it to rightful owner

By Hannah Hilyard

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    WATERFORD, Wisconsin (WISN) — A Waterford small business owner was reunited with his work portfolio and $5,000 in cash all thanks to a group of high school students who were in the exact right place at the right time.

It happened on May 15. Charles Jessup, the owner of Jessup Tree Services, was finishing up a job in East Troy.

“As I was getting in my truck, the gentleman said, ‘Hey Charles, one more tree!’ And I said, ‘OK, great,'” Jessup recalled. “Well, like a dummy, I put my portfolio on the back of my truck saying, ‘Well I’m not going to forget this.'”

He did forget it, though. Jessup said he drove off, and somewhere along Highway 20 between East Troy and Waterford, he ended up losing his open portfolio containing several important items including $5,000 in cash.

“My computer, OK, MacBook Air with my life, my business, records,” Jessup said. “And then on the inside is where I had tucked the cash.”

Retracing his steps, Jessup said he found only his laptop. But he also spotted Waterford Union High School’s Future Farmers of America students doing their spring roadside clean-up.

“Charles pulled over on the side of the road, and he got my attention, because I was kind of toward the back of the group,” Luke Hying, a Waterford Union junior and the FFA president, said. “At first, I was kind of a little confused. I’m like, ‘What does this guy want?'”

In a last-ditch effort, Jessup explained to the students his situation and asked them to call if they tracked down any of his items.

“We were like, ‘OK, we’re probably not going to find it,'” sophomore Morgan Schoof said. “All of a sudden, I was like, ‘there’s a $50 bill right here.'”

“We found money after money after money, and then we found his portfolio,” Hying added. “Then we found a bunch of papers with the portfolio. It was actually pretty crazy how much we found in that ditch.”

Jessup said he then received a phone call from Hying.

“It went from having a terrible day, you know beating myself up for why would I be so stupid to leave that on the back of my truck, to like, ‘Wow, what great kids,'” Jessup said.

Monday, Jessup said thank you by hosting a party for the students during their lunch hour.

“I really had no idea it would make such a big impact to Charles and so many people would see it as such a big event in the community,” Hying said.

Doc’s on the Fox, a Waterford restaurant, donated pizzas for Monday’s party.

The one act of kindness is inspiring more acts of kindness.

“I wanted to re-enforce that sometimes doing the right things has benefits,” Jessup said.

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