The Tukwila Police Department donated around $13,000 to Habitat for Humanity, money that was initially turned into the department by the nonprofit.
Gail Luxenburg, the CEO for Habitat for Humanity, said they found money inside furnishing that came into the Southcenter store from a man who would not disclose any information about himself. She said he dropped off the items and left the store.
“We take donations at our store just like they do at Goodwill, the difference between our stores and the Goodwills is that we’re looking for home materials, building materials and furnishings and whatnot,” Luxenburg said.
Upon inspecting the donated furniture, the lump sum of cash was found.
Not knowing what to do with the money and unable to get a hold of the donated, Luxenburg said they brought the money to TPD.
“We notified the Tukwila police and we wanted to do everything they knew how to do to reach out to find the person,” she said.
According to Officer Victor Masters, public information officer for the TPD, the money was brought into the department on Dec. 21, 2017 by the COO David Delap.
The department then attempted to find the person, which took a few months, according to Masters.
“It’s a lengthy process just to make sure it’s done right,” he said.
With no luck finding the donor, the department decided the best thing to do with the money was to donate it to Habitat for Humanity.
“We went through all the steps, but couldn’t contact the owner. We just really couldn’t find them at all, so we gave the money back to Habitat for Humanity,” Masters said.
Luxenburg said she is very grateful the police department decided to donate the money back to the nonprofit.
“We weren’t surprised because we had given it to them to start with. We hoped it would find its way to the rightful owner if that was going to be and if that wasn’t going to be, we would be the second best choice,” she said.
Masters said he is happy the money got to go to Habitat for Humanity because he thinks it’s a great nonprofit.
The money will be put to good use according to Luxenburg.
“That (money) will be going directly into our funds to build homes for low-income homeowners throughout King County. What we do in our work is our homeowners all hold a mortgage and do sweat-equity to acquire their homes, but we provide them a subsidy between what it costs to build the homes and what they are able to pay,” she said. “So that money will be directed towards the subsidy that we use to be able to build throughout King County.”
With all of the processing and craziness that went onto finding this mystery donor, Luxenburg said she enjoyed working with the Tukwila Police.
“We’re really grateful that the Tukwila Police Department was wonderful to work with, we really appreciate their support. Once in a while there’s a ‘good news’ story so they felt good about it and they were really helpful,” she said.
