'A hometown hero'

COEUR d’ALENE — When Jackson Staples found an envelope with cash inside, he didn’t count it. Nor did he consider keeping it.

He adhered to the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated.

“If I lost a wallet, I would be absolutely concerned,” the 17-year-old said. “I would be grateful if someone returned it to me.”

Which was much to the relief and thanks of Gary Dixon.

The Coeur d’Alene man lost that envelope with $1,200 inside last Friday. He didn’t even realize it until the next day, and his initial thought was, he could kiss that hard-earned money goodbye.

“There was no name on it,” Dixon said. “He could have easily kept it.”

But Staples didn’t.

When he found the envelope on the front counter at Papa Murphy's on Government Way, 10 minutes before closing time, he glanced inside and saw $100 bills.

Then, he did the only thing that occurred to him: He called his boss.

“I found this money. What do you want me to do with it?” he said.

He was told to keep it behind the counter in case anyone came back for it. If not, place it in the store safe, which is what Staples did.

Saturday night, while eating dinner at Texas Roadhouse, Dixon had a sudden thought that left him with a sinking feeling.

Where was that envelope of cash?

It was unusual for him to even carry such money, but he had received $3,200 after delivering a miniature pony to Utah.

When he returned to Coeur d’Alene, he deposited most at his credit union, and kept some for bills.

“It’s rare. Normally I don’t do that,” he said.

Now, it was gone.

In a bit of a panic, he called his son and asked him to look around for it at home. Not there.

Dixon later searched through the trash, the car, his jeans, anywhere it might have been. No signs of it anywhere.

His wife, needless to say, wasn’t thrilled.

"It kept me up most of the night,” he said.

The next day, he replayed his Friday steps in his mind. He had stopped at Fred Meyer, Albertsons, a few other places, and then Papa Murphy’s to pick up pizza for dinner.

He called the grocery stores. No go.

Sunday morning, he went to Papa Murphy's. After a few conversations and calls, it was good news. They had it. An employee had turned it in, he was told.

Dixon was both surprised and delighted.

“I’m like, ‘Wow. Pretty cool employees,'" he said.

Dixon said there is so much negative out there, “so much news of just bad stuff all the time,” it was almost shocking to hear of such a good deed. In a way, it restored his faith in humanity, he said.

And after meeting Staples — and giving him $100 — Dixon was impressed with his character.

“A great young man,” he said.

Dixon’s friend, Joe Kooyman, was equally impressed with Staples and wanted to do something to honor his actions.

“Good deeds should not go unrewarded,” he said.

Kooyman started a GoFundMe account with a goal of $1,200.

“Hey guys. This is a story of a hometown hero who did the right thing,” he wrote.

Kooyman went on to explain what happened.

“Instead of pocketing the cash Jackson did an incredible and honest thing,” he wrote. “Let’s reward this young man and show him some love that doing the right thing will always work out in the end. Thanks Jackson.”

A lot of people agreed.

As of Thursday, the account had surpassed its goal and was at $1,304.

One donor, Robert Zangar, wrote, “Way to go Jackson. I work at a Middle School in the Spokane Valley and these kids could learn a valuable lesson from what you did."

The son of Andrew and Julie Staples of Coeur d’Alene said he has found credit cards and other things in his two years at Papa Murphy's, but never an envelope of cash. And a lot of it.

“I did not expect it to be as much as it was," he said.

Wouldn’t have mattered.

A senior at Christian Center School in Hayden, Staples lets his faith guide him and knew the only choice was to try to get the money back to its owner.

He was pleased that’s how it turned out and humbled at the accolades he received in return.

“It’s awesome, but I did not expect anything like that,” he said. “You try and do the right thing and don’t expect a reward for it.”