When A Man Abandoned A Package In Airport Trash, This Lady Couldn’t Ignore It

Unassuming Day

When Ivelise Hernandez from Tampa, Florida arrived at St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport she assumed her day would be nothing but ordinary but that was very far from the truth. It was today that the young woman was taking a flight to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with the help of her boyfriend Rico Bankston, who drove her to the airport. As he always did, he accompanied her up to the security line.

Routine Inconvenience

We all enjoy taking trips however standing in the security line can be a long and annoying wait but for now, everything seemed quite calm. It was in that moment the couple noticed some commotion just a few places ahead of them in the security line — there was a distressed looking man being made to leave a package of his behind. Ivelise and her boyfriend were not to know that this would be an incident that would impact her life in the craziest way.

Airport Security

Standing in line to go through airport security is by far the worst parts of traveling, but Rico waited patiently by his girlfriend Ivelise’s side. What should have otherwise been a standard bag inspection was taking far longer than usual.

Suspect Package

The issue escalated and there was a real serious reason as to why the security guards were so mad about the man trying to take his wrapped package through the metal detector and now it was holding up the queue. Security then told the man to take a step out of the line and go to the side. Ivelise and Rico were beyond curious as to what was happening and so they decided to listen in to the argument and little did they know but they were about to find out something unbelievable.

Red Flag

Since the terrible events of September 11, traveling in the US and the rest of the world is much more through. The Transportation Security Authority in the United States, otherwise known as the TSA, have stringent guidelines for what is and what is not allowed in hand luggage on flights. Even now, many years on, passengers are often disgruntled or surprised about the items they are not able to take aboard their flight in their hand luggage. Whatever this man had in his bag had raised a big red flag for the security staff.

Strict Requirements

Before 9/11, the whole security process was much more easier and you didn’t need to allow to much extra time to get through however now, even though the rules are clearly explained online, travelers still try to get the things through that they deem safe. A lot of people believe some of the restrictions are unnecessary and get rid of the restricted items only to re-purchase them once they are in the departure lounge but it didn’t look like this was the case for the man and his precious package.

Escalating Argument

Still unaware as to what was happening, Ivelise and Rico saw that the man was getting more distressed. He relentlessly attempted to bargain with the TSA agents, and pleaded with them to have the package sent somewhere instead of it heading to the lost and found department. There was nothing that the man could do to help his situation, the TSA refused his request, and told him he had to throw the package into the trash can nearby. Not being able to turn a blind eye to the man distressed state, Ivelise and Rico felt something had to be done.

Tossed Away

The man tried everything he could to keep his package but the security agents would not budge and seemed very unsympathetic. His eyes welled up, and looking completely defeated he picked up his package and tossed it into the trash. With his head hung low, the gentlemen had no other choice but then to continue and go to board his flight. Ivelise finally made it to the front of the queue and said goodbye to her boyfriend and made her own way through the security checkpoint. In the last minute, she had an idea and turned to Rico to ask if he would do something for her.

A Strange Mission

Ivelise couldn’t let go of what she had witnessed with the man and his package and she thought about how important a simple package was to him. Kissing goodbye to Rico, she entered security but not without setting a mission for Rico. She kindly asked him if we would go to the trash bin and have a look inside to try and figure out what had been in the precious package. Moving on, also feeling stressed by the situation, she continued and boarded her flight to Pennsylvania. She contiued to wonder exactly what Rico would find in there?

Free To Go

Rico had an advantage in the situation. As he wasnt in the security line himself, the TSA agents took no notice of him. He believed that because the package in question had only been thrown in the bin and not hauled off for extra screening, it couldn’t have been such a big risk and so maybe they wouldn’t say anything if Rico took it out. He looked around and no one seemed to be taking any notice of him and so he reached inside the trash can and pulled out the man’s beloved parcel. Returning to his car, he drove home and wondered what he would find in the package one he was home.

Uneasy On-Board

Ivelise could not shake off what she had seen in the airport and she had questioned swirling around her head as to what could possibly be in the package. Why were they so strict with him, what could it possibly be that even though his distress they wouldn’t bend the rules? The moment she landed she grabbed her phone and called Rico. As he told her what he had found, Ivelise knew she had to do something.

The Discovery

As Rico unwrapped the package, he could not understand what all the fuss had been about. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing dangerous and certainly nothing sketchy, so why the huge debate. When he first looked it seemed to be an ordinary trinket, probably a gift from someone. There inside the parcel was a pretty snow globe! Rico examined it more closely to try and find what it was that made it so suspicious and so precious. As he turned it over, he immediately understood it was worth a alot more than money.

A Closer Look

It was not a simple snow globe that the man had purchased from a gift shop — it had been made specifically for the man. Rico could see two photographs inside of the globe, one of a little girl, and the other of an elderly couple. The snow globe also sang a sweet song, “Greensleeves” when the dial was turned. On the bottom of the snow globe, there was an engraving. Whoever had brought this for the man, they had gone out their way to personalize it with a message, and it read: “We love you Katie. Nana and Papa 1/25/16”. Rico and Ivelise decided they were going to do something with the package.

The Goal

Once Ivelise returned back to Florida from her trip to Pittsburgh. She agreed with Rico that they couldn’t ignore and forget about the snow globe. They knew that they had to track down the owner. The special package had clearly meant a lot to the man and seemed like a family heirloom. They accepted the mission and wondered how they would get it back to the rightful owner.

Needle In A Haystack

The odds were stacked up against them. They knew nothing about this man or his family and the task wasn’t going to be easy. They had no clues whatsoever? No address, no full names they could trace, right now even the engraved message couldn’t help them. The only lead they had was that it was a possibility that the man had been in the area as he was flying from St. Pete-Clearwater Airport on that day of February. What were they going to do?

First Steps

Ivelise’s first step in the search was to look on social media. Writing a Facebook post on her wall she put as many details as possible and included pictures of the snow globe and its engraving. She hoped that her friends would share it and pass it around. There was nothing more the couple could do but they were determined. What could Ivelise do to put the smile back on the mans face?

Limited Audience

Even as she wrote her post and uploaded pictures of the snow globe, Ivelise was aware that she didn’t have a very large Facebook network. It wasn’t that she didn’t have friends; just her list of friends was basically average. As a result, she and Rico were just cautiously optimistic.

Viral Campaign

Every day you read stories on Facebook that have gone viral but the pair didn’t think this would be one of those time. And due to their doubt, they were unprepared for what would happen next. The had massively underestimated the power of social media. The Facebook post caught loads of attention and amazingly went viral. The post was flying through cyberspace and had now taken on a life of its own.

Things Remembered

Just seven days had passed and the pictures of the people inside the snow globe, the engraved message, and the accompanying post was soaring around Facebook being shared by everyone who saw it. It had been reposted more than 48,000 times! Ivelise wondered if that would be enough to find the man and return the snow globe back to him?

A Great Step Forward

The post continued to be shared by Ivelise’s friends, and their friends, but was it going to enough?. Finally, someone came forward with a message. But it wasn’t a relative or friend of the man, so how much information could they give? In turned out, the person didn’t personally know the man at all. The message came from an employee from a gift shop called Things Remembered and Ivelise and Rico didn’t expect what would happen next.

Product Identified

The message that they received on Facebook meant they were now even closer to finding the man. The employee from Things Remembered couldn’t give them any information on the man but she did remember that particular snow globe model. The worker then joined in the search party and helped as much as she could and sent the Facebook status to the company’s headquarters in Ohio and asked if they could track that specific order. In a wonderful twist of fate, some great happened.

Nailed It

The office headquarters delivered in leaps and bounds and they passed on a name from Things Remembered: Linda Modry. Ivelise found out that, the lady in question, Linda had ordered the snow globe for her five-year-old granddaughter, Katie. But then due to what happened at the airport, indeed Katie never received her gift. The gift was passed onto Katie’s dad, Michael, as he was going to deliver the heartfelt gift. It turned out that he was, in fact, the man that Ivelise and Rico had seen in the security line. Katie’s dad had to break the news to her about the gift and understandably she had been very disappointed. But thanks to Ivelise and Rico, that was about to turn around.

Honing In

With everything happening so fast, Ivelise and Rico were overjoyed. The employee from Things Remembered had saved the search and now they had a name and a specific direction. Everything was coming together, piece by piece and they were at the last bit of their thoughtful journey. And all of this came from one Facebook post that came from good intentions and turned into a viral status that strangers wanted to help with. Ivelise had gone from knowing close to nothing about the snow globe’s owner and now she knew where it had been purchased from and the name of the owner. But with all good stories, there was still more to come.

Right Around The Corner

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With the success of the Facebook campaign, Ivelise and Rico didn’t have to wait too much longer to pass on the snow globe and it so happened that Linda Modry lived in the same area as them. The headquarters over at Things Remembered gave permission for Linda’s details to be passed on and gave Ivelise the customer’s number. With all the help, the local news companies had found out about the story and everyone wanted to get involved with reuniting Linda with the globe. Ivelise and Rico had really done something amazing.

Meeting The Owner

A rainstorm was coming but that didn’t stop the news crews piling in and it had been arranged for Linda Modry to go to Ivelise Hernandez’s front door in Tampa. The excitement circling this was unbelievable. There is nothing as fulfilling as a good deed. In a random act of kindness two women had become connected by a simple object. The package that had been tossed away at the airport had come to mean a lot to Ivelise as well as Linda’s family. Then there was a knock on the door.

Joyful Embrace

Barely containing her excitement, Ivelise opened the door. With huge smiles on both of their faces, they fell into each other’s arms, as if they were two long lost friends. Linda arrived with a gorgeous bunch of flowers, with tears in their eyes at the thought of Ivelise kind gesture. Ivelise was filled with so much joy and was overwhelmed to of been able to fulfill an act of kindness and return the precious package. And it turned out, that there was much more to the globe than just a gift that got lost.

Birthday Gift

The timing of the snow globe initially getting lost came at such the wrong time as it had been a birthday gift for Linda’s granddaughter. But it looked as though Ivelise had shown up started her search at just the right time. Her granddaughter Katie’s birthday was coming up, and the present was her birthday gift. Now, thanks to Ivelise, Katie would still get her thoughtful gift. If she had not spoken up, and if Rico had not gone through the trash bin at the airport, there would have been a heavy sadness over the lost item. Ivelise asked about the snow globe and its meaning and found out somehing very special about the date engraved on to it.

Many Guests

That snow globe had been bought with the biggest amount of love, and thanks to Ivelise and Rico it had finally made its way back to its rightful owner. Linda could barely hold back her tears and was overcome with emotion as she thanked Ivelise but Linda felt that something more needed to be done to show Ivelise and Rico just how grateful she was to them.

Connecting The Family

There was so much more to the item and it went so much further. Linda called her son, Michael (he was the man in the security line at the airport) and it turned out Michael was returning home to Ohio after visiting his parents in Florida. Linda and her husband had passed him the package just before he left to catch his flight. Ivelise’s timing was just perfect.

Welcome To The Family

It so turned out that the date engraved on the globe represented a beautiful moment in the family’s history. The date, January 25th, was not a birth date as Ivelise thought initially but more of a touching memorable date. It turned out that it was actually the date of Katie’s adoption and the beginning of her journey as a member of the family. For Linda Modry and her husband, the gift was so much more than a simple snow globe. The beautiful gift was a gesture for them to show their gratitude to their adopted grandchild and her place in her new forever family. The gift reminded her that her family loved having her in their lives. Linda passed the phone to a very emotional Ivelise. What would the family say?

Smiles All Around

As Ivelise listened, in so happened that it was not Michael and Katie on the other end of the phone, and her grandmother Linda told the five-year-old that the lost package containing her new snow globe had been found. Nothing could have prepared Ivelise for just how much her act of selflessness would mean to so many people. Katie could be heard jumping around with happiness on the other end of the line.

Pure Instinct

From the moment Ivelise saw the commotion at the airport, she felt that she had to do something and it simply came naturally to her. She told the news stations that it was her mother that had always told her to be good to others, and she spoke about that if she had been in the same situation, she hoped someone would have done the same thing for her. She had succeeded and returned the precious parcel back to its rightful owners. Linda summarized the experience by describing Ivelise: “People are basically really good, and she’s just exceptional.”