“It’s an incredible story of honesty and integrity,” said Mrs. Sherry Skipper-Spurgeon, regarding the tale of seventh-grader Louis Salgado’s lost wallet.

During Spring Break at the beginning of April, Louis went to Mexico with his uncle, sister, and aunt for his vacation.  They had been visiting the beach and swimming in the ocean, enjoying their time, relaxing in the sun.  

As Louis came back to shore, he realized his wallet, which had a $10 bill, 20 peso note and his ID, were missing!  Most likely, it had been in his pocket while he went out into the water. 

At that point, Louis figured he had lost it forever.  “I felt bad because I lost $10,” said Louis.   

Luckily, a good samaritan named Karen Gallagher was walking along the shore when she found Louis’s wallet.  Inside, there was an ID of the student and the school he went to.  Through a quick internet search, Mrs. Gallagher found the MacArthur Facebook page.

Skipper-Spurgeon, who runs the MacArthur school website and Facebook account, received a message that Gallagher wanted to chat privately.  Not knowing who Gallagher was, Skipper did not know what to expect.  After a quick exchange, Skipper recognized the name Louis Salgado and knew that he was in her second period class.  

When the wallet arrived, it was in a bag and the wallet was covered with a plastic wrapping and still had sand from Mexico in it.  The following school day, the wallet was back in Louis’s hands, money and ID both intact.  To Louis, it was shocking that someone in Mexico tried so hard to get it to him!

On the MacArthur Facebook page, the story got about 2500 hits.  One commentator, Alexander Ma wrote, “We need more people like Karen in this world.”

Karen had honesty and integrity from Mrs. Skipper and Alexander, she could have just taken the money and kept it without anyone knowing, but she turned it into the rightful owner of the wallet. Louis said, “I feel thankful.”