A donation of clothing … a surprising discovery

At St. Anthony Church in Kalihi a volunteer sorts through clothing donations. The volunteer opens a cardboard box of clothing. In that box is an old robe and in a pocket of that robe the volunteer finds a small pendant of a police badge and more than $1,000 cash in various denominations.

The Kalihi parish recently held a drive for donations of clothing and other items to help the victims of Typhoon Haiyan, the powerful storm that plowed through the Philippines Nov. 8 claiming the lives of thousands of men, women and children. Contributions poured in and volunteers were recruited to sort and organize the various articles before they were shipped off to their final destination.

The person who found the $1,000 in the robe took the cash and the pendant to the pastor, La Salette Father Manuel Dela Cruz. Unfortunately no records were kept linking donors to donations. The parish did not know whom to return the money to.

So Father Dela Cruz took the money to the Kalihi Police Station where he was told that if the owner of the money could not be identified, it would be returned to the parish. That’s probably what would have happened if not for the police badge pendant found with the money. The police were able to link the information on the pendant to its original owner, military police officer Brian Chang.

Brian was contacted. He was surprised to learn about the discovery of the pendant he had given to his mother who died in July. He was also amazed to learn about the $1,000 in cash she kept in that robe. He said that, upon hearing of the donation drive, Brian knew that his recently departed mother would want her belongings to have a new life with people who so desperately needed them.

On Dec. 12, Chang wrote to Father Dela Cruz to express his gratitude and to donate $50 to the church.

Father Dela Cruz told us this story at the most recent meeting of the St. Anthony school board, of which my wife Erlinda is chairwoman, and I would like to do my part to spread the word to others.

But for the fact that Brian donated his mother’s clothing to help the people of the Philippines, and a volunteer found and gave the money and pendant to Father Dela Cruz, who in turn took the items to the police station, the money, and more importantly the pendant, may have never been revealed to Brian. It was a chain of custody held together by bonds of generosity, honesty and integrity and leaves one with little doubt that, as Brian wrote in his letter, “someone was looking out for her and getting her possessions to her family.”

I am humbly grateful to St. Anthony Church, its parishioners, and others who make these choices without question, day in and day out. They are an example to me and to everyone who hears of their good deeds.