By Haylee Pence

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PIQUA — Luis Alfonso Rodriguez was shopping at a Piqua grocery store when he found a money bag under the flap in the child’s seat part of a grocery cart.

Not knowing what to do, he went to Maggie Garza, a freight coordinator with A.M. Leonard Inc., where he works. Rodriguez, of Piqua, was concerned about turning the money bag into the grocery store without assistance because he could not speak English.

Garza and Rodriguez looked through the bag to find its owner. According to Garza, the bag belonged to a local transportation company. Then, she spent the rest of the day attempting to find the owner and get in contact with them.

“I wanted to get it to the owner. I could just imagine the nerves, the gut-churning, of losing something like that. We wanted to return it as fast as possible,” said Garza.

Eventually, through many internet searches, Garza found a number for the owner of the company and bag. Garza met the owner to return the bag. She took a photo of the owner with the bag to show Rodriguez that the bag was returned.

The owner not only verbally thanked Rodriguez and Garza, but came by the next day to give each of them a thank you card and a reward for their good deed.

Leslie Walker, a representative from the human resources department with A.M. Leonard Inc., said, “It’s one thing to say ‘thank you.’ It’s another to go to a store, buy a card, pay for it, and drive there. It’s a lot of effort and in today’s world where you can send a text or just say thank you. That is time and it means a lot.”

She went on to say, “Doing the right thing when no one is looking, that’s integrity.”

Rodriguez said, through the use of Garza as a translator, “I thought to myself I don’t want any part of this, but the most important (aspect) for me was to return it back to who it belongs.”