TO A PIZZA PARTY. SEVEN DAYS AGO. THANK YOU. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. THESE WATERFORD UNION HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WERE STRANGERS TO CHARLES JESSUP, BUT TODAY HE’S THROWING THEM A PIZZA PARTY. SO HELP YOURSELVES. IT WAS MONDAY, MAY 15TH. JESSUP TREE SERVICES OWNER WAS FINISHING UP A JOB IN EAST TROY. AND AS I WAS GETTING BACK INTO MY TRUCK, THE GENTLEMAN SAID, HEY, CHARLES, ONE MORE TREE. WELL, LIKE A DUMMY, I PUT MY PORTFOLIO ON THE BACK OF MY TRUCK SAYING, WELL, I’M NOT GOING TO FORGET THIS. BUT HE DID DRIVING OFF AND LOSING HIS OPEN PORTFOLIO CONTAINING HIS COMPUTER DOCUMENTS. AND THEN ON THE INSIDE IS WHERE I HAD TUCKED THE CASH AND $5,000 TO RETRACE HIS STEPS. HE FOUND ONLY HIS LAPTOP, BUT ALSO THESE FUTURE FARMERS OF AMERICA STUDENTS DOING A ROADSIDE CLEANUP GOT MY ATTENTION. AND AT FIRST I WAS KIND OF JUST A LITTLE CONFUSED. I’M LIKE, WHAT DOES THIS GUY WANT? AND IF BY CHANCE YOU GUYS FIND IT, HERE’S MY NUMBER ARE JUST LIKE, OKAY, LIKE WE’RE PROBABLY NOT GOING TO FIND IT. BUT THEN THEY DID. IT WAS RIGHT HERE ALONG RURAL HIGHWAY 20 BETWEEN WATERFORD AND EAST TROY, WHERE THE STUDENTS FIRST SPOTTED, NOT THE PORTFOLIO BUT SOME MONEY. AND I AND I WAS LIKE, THERE’S A $50 BILL RIGHT HERE. SO WE FOUND JUST MONEY AFTER MONEY AFTER MONEY. AND THEN WE FOUND A BUNCH OF PAPERS WITH THE PORTFOLIO. SO IT WAS ACTUALLY CRAZY HOW MUCH STUFF WE JUST FOUND WHEN YOU GOT THAT PHONE CALL FROM ONE OF THESE STUDENTS, WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION? I WENT FROM HAVING A TERRIBLE DAY THINKING, YOU KNOW, BEATING MYSELF UP FOR WHY WOULD I BE SO STUPID TO LEAVE THAT ON THE BACK OF MY TRUCK TO WOW, WHAT GREAT KIDS, WHICH IS WHY MONDAY JESSUP SAID THANK YOU FOR THE ACT OF KINDNESS. I WAS LIKE, WHY? LIKE WE JUST BASICALLY DID THE RIGHT THING. THAT’S WHAT I WAS ALWAYS RAISED TO DO WITH AN ACT OF KINDNESS OF HIS OWN. I WANTED TO REINFORCE THAT SOMETIMES DOING THE RIGHT THINGS HAS BENEFITS. IN WATERFORD, HANNAH HILLIARD, WISN 12 NEWS. THE POWER OF DOING THE RIGHT THING. INSPIRED BY THE SITUATION. WATERFORD RESTAURANT DOCKS ON THE FOX.
High school students find $5,000 during roadside pickup, return it to rightful owner
A small business owner said “thank you” at a pizza party for a group of high school students who performed the random act of kindness.
Updated: 3:23 AM EDT May 23, 2023
A small business owner in Waterford, Wisconsin, was reunited with his work portfolio and $5,000 in cash all thanks to a group of high school students who were in the exact right place at the right time. On May 15, Charles Jessup — the owner of Jessup Tree Services — was finishing up a job in East Troy, Wisconsin, when a client started talking to him. “As I was getting in my truck, the gentleman said, ‘Hey Charles, one more tree,’ and I said, ‘OK, great,'” Jessup recalled. “Well, like a dummy, I put my portfolio on the back of my truck saying, ‘Well I’m not going to forget this.'” He did forget it, though. Jessup said he drove off, and somewhere along Highway 20 between East Troy and Waterford, he ended up losing his open portfolio containing several important items including $5,000 in cash.”My computer, OK, MacBook Air with my life, my business, records,” Jessup said. “And then on the inside is where I had tucked the cash.”Retracing his steps, Jessup said he found only his laptop. But he also spotted Waterford Union High School’s Future Farmers of America students doing their spring roadside clean-up. “Charles pulled over on the side of the road, and he got my attention, because I was kind of toward the back of the group,” Luke Hying, a Waterford Union junior and the FFA president, said. “At first, I was kind of a little confused. I’m like, ‘What does this guy want?'”In a last-ditch effort, Jessup explained to the students his situation and asked them to call if they tracked down any of his items. “We were like, ‘OK, we’re probably not going to find it,'” sophomore Morgan Schoof said. “All of a sudden, I was like, ‘there’s a $50 bill right here.'””We found money after money after money, and then we found his portfolio,” Hying added. “Then we found a bunch of papers with the portfolio. It was actually pretty crazy how much we found in that ditch.”Jessup said he then received a phone call from Hying. “It went from having a terrible day, you know beating myself up for why would I be so stupid to leave that on the back of my truck, to like, ‘Wow, what great kids,'” Jessup said.Monday, Jessup said thank you by hosting a party for the students during their lunch hour. “I really had no idea it would make such a big impact to Charles and so many people would see it as such a big event in the community,” Hying said. The one act of kindness is inspiring more acts of kindness.Doc’s on the Fox, a Waterford restaurant, donated pizzas for the party. “I wanted to re-enforce that sometimes doing the right things has benefits,” Jessup said.
A small business owner in Waterford, Wisconsin, was reunited with his work portfolio and $5,000 in cash all thanks to a group of high school students who were in the exact right place at the right time.
On May 15, Charles Jessup — the owner of Jessup Tree Services — was finishing up a job in East Troy, Wisconsin, when a client started talking to him.
“As I was getting in my truck, the gentleman said, ‘Hey Charles, one more tree,’ and I said, ‘OK, great,'” Jessup recalled. “Well, like a dummy, I put my portfolio on the back of my truck saying, ‘Well I’m not going to forget this.'”
He did forget it, though. Jessup said he drove off, and somewhere along Highway 20 between East Troy and Waterford, he ended up losing his open portfolio containing several important items including $5,000 in cash.
“My computer, OK, MacBook Air with my life, my business, records,” Jessup said. “And then on the inside is where I had tucked the cash.”
Retracing his steps, Jessup said he found only his laptop. But he also spotted Waterford Union High School’s Future Farmers of America students doing their spring roadside clean-up.
“Charles pulled over on the side of the road, and he got my attention, because I was kind of toward the back of the group,” Luke Hying, a Waterford Union junior and the FFA president, said. “At first, I was kind of a little confused. I’m like, ‘What does this guy want?'”
In a last-ditch effort, Jessup explained to the students his situation and asked them to call if they tracked down any of his items.
“We were like, ‘OK, we’re probably not going to find it,'” sophomore Morgan Schoof said. “All of a sudden, I was like, ‘there’s a $50 bill right here.'”
“We found money after money after money, and then we found his portfolio,” Hying added. “Then we found a bunch of papers with the portfolio. It was actually pretty crazy how much we found in that ditch.”
Jessup said he then received a phone call from Hying.
“It went from having a terrible day, you know beating myself up for why would I be so stupid to leave that on the back of my truck, to like, ‘Wow, what great kids,'” Jessup said.
Monday, Jessup said thank you by hosting a party for the students during their lunch hour.
“I really had no idea it would make such a big impact to Charles and so many people would see it as such a big event in the community,” Hying said.
The one act of kindness is inspiring more acts of kindness.
Doc’s on the Fox, a Waterford restaurant, donated pizzas for the party.
“I wanted to re-enforce that sometimes doing the right things has benefits,” Jessup said.
