Prince George, BC – I was ‘lucky’ enough to have my wallet stolen two weeks ago, and wanted to share how I came to see such a rotten event in this light…

It was a sickening feeling to realize my wallet had been snatched from my purse, in what I can only describe as a ‘slight of hand’ trick. But the efforts of so many people in the minutes, hours, and days following have left me awed.

Right off the bat, I’ll tell you it was my fault. I left my purse within my sight, but out of my reach for a few minutes and that’s all it took.

In an instant, I lost all my credit cards, bank card, driver’s license, my Care Card, as well as my childrens’, and one son’s birth certificate. (No cash, as I’d put my only $5 bill in my pocket earlier with an eye to buying a coffee!)

I did phone the RCMP and they sent out a notice to cars in the area, but I realized there was very little hope at the outset. They were sympathetic and offered up some helpful advice, but the thief had vanished in the blink of an eye.  After sifting through garbage cans and two dumpsters in the immediate vicinity, I arrived home to begin phoning to cancel all my credit cards.

That’s when I discovered, with increasing alarm, that the thief had already used two of them, swiping $5 amounts at pay phones – three times on one card, twice on the other. In fact, David in the fraud department at Mastercard had already been trying to phone me because they had picked up on this sudden activity – I hadn’t used the card since before Christmas. He said thieves often do this to ‘test’ whether a card is active and accessible. He also advised that I should phone both credit bureaus – Equifax and Trans Union – to notify them that I’d lost both my credit cards and personal ID, making me a target for identity theft. (The ‘flag’ stays on my accounts for the next six years.) I then felt like I was in a race against the crook, even though every company I spoke with assured me I would not be liable for anything charged.

I went to bed wracking my brain to ensure I’d cancelled every card (because I’d never made the recommended ‘list’ of everything in my wallet), and thinking about the hassles that lay ahead in trying to replace all my personal ID.

This is where Penny comes in…

Penny works at Active Support Against Poverty’s homeless shelter. She phoned at 6:45am the next morning to say that my wallet had been dropped into the shopping cart of a person who spends the night at the shelter. He gave it to Penny. Penny lives in my neighbourhood and hand-delivered it to my door on her way home from the overnight shift. What a wonderful wake-up call: I got everything back except three credit cards!

Fast forward to this past Thursday, when Joe tracked me down. Joe works at the front desk at the Day’s Inn. A woman had found my three remaining credit cards in the ashtray outside the Inn’s front doors and turned them in to Joe. Joe made numerous calls to find me, eventually contacting Opinion250.

All four of these good samaritans went above and beyond to help me. I’m so grateful and wanted to give them a public ‘shout out’. I realize everyday what wonderful people live in this city and this is just another example, but one that affected me personally.

(I’d also like to thank all the staff at the library where I’d been working away on my laptop. They searched the stairwell, washrooms, and scanned from the balcony for anyone leaving the building to no avail. The commissionaire also searched every spot she could think of in the parking lot underneath the building for any sign of my wallet. Then there’s the man – whose name I forgot to ask – who stood guard over my computer and camera bag while I went running to try and find the culprit. And my friends, Joanne and Deb, who sent ‘positive thoughts’ to the thief, which apparently helped everything find it’s way back to me!)