Like many people these days, Harry Robertson lives paycheque to paycheque.
“I fight every month to stay ahead of the bills. I’m just your average Joe,” Robertson said.
Except he isn’t. There is not much ordinary about him. After finding an abandoned wallet in a shopping cart at the East Hills Costco, he first thought about how the person who lost it felt the most and then wondered how to return it immediately.
Shelley Bainto’s purse was left in her shopping cart.
Jill Croteau/Global News
“There was money, a phone, credit cards, keys, cash. Someone’s whole life was in it,” Robertson said.
That whole life belonged to Shelley Bainto.
“It felt like the end of the world for a minute,” Bainto said. “I just panicked.”
She said she was just sick of the thought of never getting it back, and realized that she had left it in the cart after her shopping trip with her husband, Burt.
“I thought ‘this is the end of it, I’ll never see this wallet again,'” Bainto said. “It’s that pit in your stomach and I wanted to cry and cry and scream and scream.”
She returned to the parking lot to try to look for it, but when she saw no sign of it, she went home. Seconds later, Robertson pulled up to her house.
“I knew if it went from my hand to her hand, it would be just the way she left it,” Robertson said.
He delivered it right to her door.
“If I had to drive 100 miles, I would.”
Bainto was in disbelief.
“We were unloading our groceries and suddenly I heard, ‘Hey honey’. And there he hangs my wallet out the window. He found my wallet! It was excitement, almost to the point of crying,” Bainto said.
“We were so blown away. There are still good hearts in this world.”
As a gesture of her gratitude, Bainto wanted Robertson to have a little something.
Costco gift card from Shelley to Harry.
Jill Croteau/Global News
“It was such a relief and such a true act of kindness and compassion and we had to do something,” Bainto said.
She gave him a Costco gift card. But in true selfless spirit, he doesn’t plan to use the gift on himself.
“I was happy to have a thank you. That’s all I needed,” Robertson said.
“I just rescued a cat. I’ll probably buy cat litter and food for Christmas.”
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