Lost and found spurs random acts of kindness

This News By You article was submitted by Beverly Medlyn, director of communications for Hospice of the Valley.

Josephine Jones, a volunteer recruiter for Hospice of the Valley, was awaiting a red-eye flight to New York City on July 22 when she noticed an abandoned portfolio on the seat next to her at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport gate.

She opened it and saw work papers - blueprints, notes, travel receipts and the business card of its owner, Jeff Hargarten, president and CEO of NORAM/North American Clutch Corp. in Milwaukee, Wis.

Jones took the portfolio to the TSA security station and was told that the agency didn't maintain a lost and found. The agent suggested she give it to the airline, but no one was on duty.

Jones believed she had no choice but to take the portfolio with her to New York. When she arrived, she called and left a voice-mail message for Hargarten. Then she went to the post office and mailed the portfolio to him in Milwaukee, along with her business card. She paid $32 for overnight delivery.

Just as she was sitting down to breakfast, her cellphone rang.

"Is this Josephine, the good Samaritan?" the caller asked. It was Hargarten.

Jones told him his portfolio was already in the mail.

"I can't believe that you did this," Hargarten said. "It restores my faith that there are still good people in the world."

He asked if he could repay her for her expense, and she declined.

"I said, 'Just do me a favor and don't leave your things in airports across the country!' " she said.

When Jones returned to work that Monday, July 28, an e-mail awaited her from Hargarten. He gave her two options: $32 in reimbursement for mailing the package or $250 "to the very fine organization that you work for. One random act of kindness deserves another."

Hargarten's $250 donation to the not-for-profit Hospice of the Valley arrived Monday.

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