Posted: 10/14/04
Center gets to keep $1,630 volunteer found
By Joel Stottrup
The Princeton Used Clothing Center is a low profile kind of place. It's where anyone can go to buy used clothes and sometimes even a few new ones, or perhaps buy a few light kitchen appliances, toys, a vase, some books or other miscellaneous items.
Many items sell for 25 cents, some for a few dollars, or more, depending on condition and value.
All the items are donated and senior citizen volunteers run the store which is overseen by a local board elected from among the volunteers. The clothing center donates its net profit to many charitable groups in the community.
So it was unusual when the store, which is open limited hours each week in a corner of Princeton Mall, had a moment of fame in July when news got out about what was found in an article of clothing there.
During the morning of July 7, longtime 80-year-old volunteer Helen Bergmann, was sorting clothes. It was sometime between 7:15 and 7:30 a.m. when she noticed something bulging in the right front pocket of a pair of bright yellow semi-formal women's pants.
It is not too uncommon for workers there to sometimes find some change in a pocket. But what Bergmann pulled out, she said last week, was cash totaling $1,630. There were 10 folded $100 bills and some denominations of 50s, 20s and ones, she remembers.
"I was dumfounded," said Bergmann. So much so, she recalled, that she took the money and pants and went into a rest room to collect her thoughts. Bergmann knew there would be a clothing center business meeting that morning so she decided to wait until that was over and then bring the money to the board treasurer, Helen Olson and have her count the money.
Olson counted the money and brought it to the Princeton Police Department.
Police laid out the rules: If the money was unclaimed in 60s days, the center could keep the money.
The clothing center and police kept the description of the pants and the exact amount of money secret so that someone wanting to claim the money would have to know the details in order to be judged the authentic owner.
The only thing Police Chief Warneke would reveal about the money during the 60 days was that it was more than $1,000.
News of the incident was published in the Union-Eagle and WCCO-TV sent a reporter and cameraman to the center to interview Bergmann.
Bergmann was to later say that she never wanted to hear the word "celebrity" again after the kidding that she got from people who saw her on television following the interview.
Chief Warneke said this week that four people tried to claim the money but none satisfied the requirements of providing enough details.
Clothing center treasurer Olson, in mid September, 60 days after the money was found, made the trip back to the police station to pick up the money.
Clothing center board chairperson Donna Liestman said the $1,630 will go into the store's net profit for dispersing to charitable groups.
The clothing center had a gross profit of $42,319 in fiscal year that ended on Aug. 31, 2004. It ended up with a net profit of $23,337 after expenses and donated $13,830 of that to charitable groups.
Senior citizen dining centers, the Princeton United Fund, library, food shelf, city beautification and Christmas lighting projects, Special Olympics, Rum River Interfaith Caregivers and more are among the recipients.
Bergmann said she has been offered a reward by the board of money or a gift certificate but as of last Friday had not decided what she would accept.
Besides the benefit of the extra jolt of cash for the clothing center, the incident provided some discussion among the volunteers.
"They had all kinds of stories," said clothing center worker Elizabeth Christensen about the attempts by some to claim the money. She didn't have details of those stories, however.
Bergmann said the most money she has ever found before was a $5 bill on the floor of a public place.
Bergmann also noted that the clothing center turned out to be useful for the WCCO reporter in a personal way. When reporter Esmee Murphy was there for the 90-minute taping session, she saw a new pair of shoes with flat soles in a box. The price was marked at $3 but Murphy volunteered to pay $10 for the shoes.
Bergmann explained that Murphy was getting sore feet from wearing spiked heels.
Many have also speculated about how the money in the pants ended up being donated to a place like the clothing center.
The common suggestion among clothing center members was that it could have been the pants of a deceased person and someone was hurriedly going through the clothes to clean out the residence.
"Sometimes we're in too much of a hurry," said Olson.
What happened to the yellow pants where the money was found?
When someone asked Bergmann that last Friday, the pants were nowhere to be found.
Olson explained a few days after that the pants had been sent off to some "mission field." They are now being recycled, she said.
Princeton Union-Eagle
P.O. Box 278
Princeton, MN 55371
Telephone: 763-389-1222
Fax: 763-389-1728