Finding lost treasure

Everything costs money including that summer mission outreach trip that my daughter anticipated taking with her son. But, it was money not planned in the household budget.

“I think we are supposed to go but I am not sure about how to pay for it,” she told me a couple months ago.

Everything costs money, especially house maintenance, insurance and repairs as my friend, a single woman with an older house, well knows. In January, her insurance company told her ways she had to invest more time and cash on her house. All of their ideas involved work someone else would have to do – when the weather improved.

Money may not make us happy, but it certainly does come in handy paying bills.

As the weather warmed and promised the arrival of summer my daughter received a call from a stranger. The caller wanted her to know that they could help her retrieve more than $100 that an area business owed her.

Someone owed her money? That woke her up from the winter doldrums. The business had actually it owed to her for three or four years, but because she had moved, the accountant could not figure out where to send it.

The caller, seeking a paperwork fee, had discovered this information while searching through the Great Arkansas Treasure Hunt.

It did not take my daughter long to do her own search of the Arkansas Auditor of State’s Unclaimed Property website and to realize she could do the paperwork herself.

“And I know exactly what the money is for … that summer trip. That is what it costs,” she said when she called. God had had her funds tucked away long before the anyone thought of planning this trip.

We talked a while about the marvel and then she posted on Facebook, “Tonight I learned that I have more than $500 of unclaimed money! Who said what!!?? That will pay for the missions trip that Eli and I are going on with CBF to South Dakota. Now to do some paperwork to claim it, but it should be relatively painless. Search for your name here!”

She posted the following link https://www.ark.org/auditor/unclprop/index.php/search/searchCrit.

Her posting sent several of her Facebook friends searching the website. It takes less than a minute to type in a name and do the search. I would have tried it, but as a good daughter, she assured me she had already searched and neither her dad nor I had anything coming.

Her Facebook friends looked for their names.

“Cool! I found $32! Thanks for sharing!”

“Nothing for me, but I checked for my family members and my son is listed for “under $100”! So glad you shared!”

“I found $100!”

“I found “more than $100”!”

“Thanks for sharing! My guy has under $10 waiting on him.”

“Wow, I have over 100 from Walmart Stock!”

“The paperwork, red tape is a bit tedious, but the money is there and if it belongs to you, claim it! Go get it! It’s yours!” my daughter rejoiced with them.

My single friend – who reads my daughter’s Facebook postings, checked the Arkansas Treasure Hunt website and found a note that she had more than $100 coming to her. In fact her found funds would cover a big chunk out of her house maintenance bills. Money lost to her for years – even though she had not moved, changed jobs or changed anything in all that time. Whatever the reason for the misplaced money, it came just in time. Thanks, God.

One of the recipients also had a second, smaller amount of money owed to them. After they filled out all the necessary paperwork for the larger amount, the same submission of information yielded a check for a whopping 59 cents sent through the mail. They laughed when they got it.

Money isn’t everything, but it certainly can brighten a day – in more ways than one.

(Joan Hershberger is a staff writer at the News-Times and author of “Twenty Gallons of Milk.” Email her at joanh@everybody.org)


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