Sometimes, it actually pays to be a good person.
That’s the lesson Sergio Juarez learned after he returned a $676 cashier’s check he found on the street to its owner — who, in turn, set up a GoFundMe campaign for the good Samaritan that already raised nearly $10,000 as of Tuesday.
“It was returned to me the same night to my doorstep by a man named Sergio, who I soon came to realize was living with his wife and children out of a motel nearby,” Yesenia Ortiz-Del Valle wrote on the fundraising website. “I was touched by his actions and how he initially refused to take any reward. There’s still a lot of good people in the world and Sergio is a living example.”
The post concluded: “Let’s help him get on his feet again! Even the smallest act of caring has the potential to turn a life around.”
She told the San Diego Union-Tribune that she planned to use the check to pay state taxes — but then couldn’t find it anywhere.
“Somehow it flew away,” she told KGTV. “I was going crazy. Literally, I went home and I was crying.”
Juarez later came to her door after finding the check, which had Ortiz-Del Valle’s name and address on it. She then offered Juarez a $40 reward for his good deed.
“He said to me, ‘I’m going to use this to put gas in my car,’” she told the Union-Tribune. “Then when I asked him where he lived, he didn’t want to tell me.”
Juarez, in fact, had been living out of a Motel 6 in Imperial Beach with his wife and children after they both lost their jobs, including his position as a custodian at Southwestern College in Chula Vista.
“We’ve been homeless for over three years,” Juarez told the news station. “There’s a lot of families that are going through what I’m going through. From living in Otay Ranch, nice area, beautiful park, to where you’re living in a hotel.”
Despite his tough times, Juarez said he never considered keeping the check.
“It’s not my money. It’s her money,” he told KGTV. “Whether it’s 25 cents or $4,000, I don’t care what it is, it’s not your money.”
The following day, Ortiz-Del Valle created the fundraising campaign that she titled, “We rise by lifting others.” As of Tuesday, the campaign had generated $9,745 from 325 people in five days, dwarfing the original goal of $5,000.
“I just read your story,” one comment read. “You are truly awesome. Yes I think this is a lifetime friendship. Sergio is a great person too.”
Juarez, meanwhile, shared his take on the experience and offered some advice for others who are down on their luck in a video posted to Ortiz-Del Valle’s Facebook page on Saturday. He also promised to pray for every person who donated to the fundraiser.
“Just keep your family together and just keep going,” he said. “Take one day at a time, that’s what I do.”