Wanna feel good about humanity? This story will help.
A 30-year old in Tacoma, Washington named Gerrell McAllister woke up to a $1,200 Paypal payment. Gerrell works at a pet foods store and has fallen on hard times, especially after his mom passed away a few months ago.
After doing a little digging, Gerrell figured out that the $1,200 was actually supposed to be a birthday present to another Seattle resident - Melissa Trusler - from her dad. The father had sent the Paypal payment to a phone number that USED to belong to his daughter, but had since been taken over by McAllister.
Instead of pocketing the money, which any of us could use, he did the right thing and issued a full refund to the dad, along with the message "Tell her I said happy birthday".
When asked about why he chose to return the money, Gerrell said "Returning the money was instinctive because of the values my mom instilled in me."
Long story short, the message eventually got back to Melissa, who went to her Facebook page to share the story....with a twist
The message reads
Sharing a story from this morning....
My father sent me $$ via PayPal as a bday present to help with a couch I just bought.
Due to changes in phone numbers etc. the $$ went to someone else. This person reversed the $$, I thanked him and he sent me this note:
"You're so very welcome! But if you could tell your family and friends that a low income 28 year old Black man from Tacoma with a 5 year old daughter returned your money, I would find that helpful in improving race relations while reaffirming the dope ass culture we as Western Washingtonians have worked so hard to cultivate. And that, in turn, would help me to stop kicking myself in the ass for remaining morally sound through the tough times my family and I are experiencing at the moment, lol. In short, share the story, spread the love. Thank you. "
His PayPal Info as ppl have asked to donate: gerrellmcallister@gmail.com
People have flooded Gerrell's Paypal account with donations since Melissa shared the story, and hopefully this article from Buzzfeed will keep helping to reward him for his good deed!