Security guard tracks down owner of lost cell
Linda Ivy's emotional rollercoaster ride began at a South Side VIA bus stop in June.
"I got on the bus and said where's my phone, where's my phone?" she explained.
Her cell phone was usually tucked away in a black Velcro pouch that she wears around her waist.
But it wasn't there last month when she boarded the bus.
"I was very nervous because I thought what happened to my phone?" Ivy told Fox San Antonio's Ryan Wolf. "I didn't know what happened to it."
Turns out, the elderly woman, who's also disabled and suffers from epilepsy, had a mild seizure while waiting for the bus.
Usually her husband Joe is with her to make sure she's safe.
"Every place I was he was with me," she said. "If something happened to me, he was right there to protect me."
But Joe passed away from cancer.
The lost cell phone only added to Ivy's pain.
"We were married for 34 years," she said with tears in her eyes.
Little did she know, her phone, and all those important contacts and photos, would be returned.
"About 3 days later my neighbor's phone rang and it was a man right over here at Don Pedro's," she explained. "He got the number off my contacts and my neighbor told me to call my cell phone."
A security worker at Don Pedro Mexican restaurant found her property.
The cell phone, which was protected in a purple case, had been discovered on a VIA bench at the corner of Commercial Avenue and Southwest Military Drive.
"Because of CASH FOR KINDNESS, I am able to show the man appreciation," Ivy said with a smile. "Most people wouldn't have done what he did."
Management at Don Pedro worked with Fox San Antonio for Raul Mojica's surprise.
They set up a fake work meeting for Tuesday afternoon.
"Raul?" Wolf asked when he walked in that area of the restaurant.
"Yes," he said.
"Ryan Wolf with Fox San Antonio," Wolf said next. "There is no meeting today."
"So what happened?" Mojica questioned with a confused laugh. "What's this about?"
That's when Ivy entered the restaurant's back room to say thanks.
"You did a great job," she told the security worker of 13 years. "And I want to thank you very much. I don't know how to repay you."
Wolf shared the news about his secret nomination.
"Fox San Antonio has a program called CASH FOR KINDNESS," he said. "And on behalf of the station and our partner at MitchCo Foundation Repair, would you put out your hand, please?"
Wolf then handed over a stack of cash to Mojica.
"$800!" he said after counting the money out loud. "Wow! It's mine, really? Thank you. Thank you very much."
Luke Mitchell, with MitchCo Foundation Repair, shared why doubling his award money was so special for the CASH FOR KINDNESS partner.
"As Christ's followers, we like to reward others who give blessings to others and bring light to the world," Mitchell said.
Mojica, a 59-year-old single father, said he's never been thanked like this before.
"My dad always taught me if something isn't mine you always return it and find who it belongs to," he told everyone in the room. "So that's what I was trying to do."
Mojica said the money will go a long way towards helping to pay off his bills.
He called the award money a blessing in disguise.
Click here to nominate someone for the $800 CASH FOR KINDNESS award
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