(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

An Enderby business owner says her faith in humanity has been restored after she lost a wallet containing $7,000 and someone handed it in.

It was late in the evening when River Johnson got back from taking her parents grocery shopping at Walmart in Vernon when she suddenly realized a money bag containing the cash was missing.

"I was losing it," Johnson told iNFOnews.ca. "There was a lot of fear and hopelessness thinking I'm never going to see it again."

Even though the store was closed, she called hoping someone would pick-up. Luckily someone did.

"He said 'don't you worry, now you can sleep tonight, it's in our safe,'" Johnson said.

It was only when Johnson returned to Walmart the following day and spoke to the staff the full magnitude of what had happened was revealed.

Johnson discovered the money had been found by a Walmart manager who himself had just lost his business due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Johnson doesn't want to go into his personal details but said Ralph Buisine had owned the 9Round gym in Vernon until the pandemic had forced its closure. A Gofundme campaign had been set up hoping to save the struggle business.

"I want to give the guy a reward and Walmart (said) we can't even accept a coffee," Johnson said. "When I asked him how I could give back, he said, 'oh nothing'... he's so humble."

Johnson, who owns two cannabis stores in Enderby said while losing the money wouldn't have ended her business it certainly would have held her back. She also knows how much the $7,000 would mean to a person who had just lost their business. Johnson said her faith in humanity had been badly damaged in the last year.

Her business, High Status cannabis, had two attempted break-ins in just a few days and she's saddened by the amount of racism in society.

"People just don't seem to care about each other, there's no compassion or empathy for one another," she said.

The incident has changed her mindset.

"(Buisine) has totally restored my faith in people out there doing the right thing," she said.

She says she will repay him in some way and would love for people to donate to the Gofundme campaign.

"This is way more than luck, this is angels at work... and it happened to be this guy, he was my angel that night, he's an unsung hero," Johnson said.

The Gofundme campaign can be found here.

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