![200182959-001 Man holding $20 bills in shirt pocket](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/shirt-money.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
A California woman recently made an accidental generous donation to Goodwill when she dropped off a shirt with thousands of dollars in the pocket.
After Placentia resident Linda Hoffman swung by her local Goodwill with a bag of old clothes, she was in for an unpleasant surprise about one of the shirts she had decided to give away — it had an envelope containing $8000 stashed in the pocket. Bob Hoffman had been storing six years’ worth of secret savings in a shirt with the intention of using the money to take his wife on a surprise vacation to Italy when she accidentally donated the secret fund, according to ABC 7 News.
When the couple finally realized the mistake two days later, they rushed back to Goodwill only to find that the shirt appeared to be gone. However, the next day, a Goodwill employee discovered the shirt — with the entire sum still in its pocket — in a pile of clothes. “I describe it as a miracle,” Linda said. “I would say that it was honest people and what touched our hearts the most is how honest they were.”
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Breaking Down the 2024 Election Calendar
- How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador
- What if Ultra-Processed Foods Aren’t as Bad as You Think?
- How Ukraine Beat Russia in the Battle of the Black Sea
- Long COVID Looks Different in Kids
- How Project 2025 Would Jeopardize Americans’ Health
- What a $129 Frying Pan Says About America’s Eating Habits
- The 32 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2024
Write to Megan McCluskey at megan.mccluskey@time.com