A teen is being hailed for his actions after he found a purse with cash and credit cards left behind at a grocery store and returned it to the owner.
Eliana Martin was doing a normal day of shopping at Ralphs. When she arrived home from the Chula Vista grocery store, she realized she had left her wallet behind.
Panicked, she immediately did what everyone tells you to do in case you lose your wallet; cancel your credit cards. She canceled her cards and remembered she had left her bag in the shopping card she had used while at the store.
But luckily for her, the person who spotted her bag only had honest intentions. Adrian Rodriguez saw the bag and not for a second thought about keeping it.
“My first thought was to give it back. I was debating whether I should take it back to the store or just bring it [to her], and I just brought it,” he said.
Adrian Rodriguez decided on handing the bag over to Martin himself instead of handing it over to the store. He found her address in the contents of her bag and went over to her place.
He rang the doorbell and handed Martin’s bag over to one of her relatives and left.
Martin later recalled feeling surprised at seeing Adrian in the ring video at her door, holding her bag to return it to its rightful owner.
Impressed by his honesty, Martin’s friend, Melina Marquez, said, “We should find him, so we can give him a little gratitude.”
Both the women met Rodriguez to thank him in person. Marquez said to him, “As soon as I saw his actions, I was like, ‘I hope my son grows up to be just like him.’ The values his parents were teaching him, I’m just glad he kept that.”
Adrian was surprised at their gratitude and revealed that he had not really expected anything in return. He said, “I didn’t expect nothing back, honestly. I just gave back her purse.”
The women are now organizing a GoFundMe account as a way for community members to thank Adrian for his good deed.
