When the Goodwill says they accept "new and gently used items," they most likely did not have this in mind: two small boxes filled with cremated human remains.
While sorting through a large pile of donated household items, employees at the Daugherty Drive store in Lafayette, Ind. came across two white boxes filled with human ash.
Sgt. Grant Snyder of the Lafayette police said that the boxes were labeled with names and dates, so Officer Aaron Lorton was able to reunite the boxes and families, according to the Lafayette Journal and Courier.
There was nothing criminal about the accidental donation, Snyder told the Journal and Courier.
Paula Strong, the store manager, said one of her employees found the white boxes inside velvet pouches that were tucked away in a larger box.
"When she pulled them out of the red velvet bags, that is when she realized that they were from a crematory and what they were," Strong told the Journal and Courier. Strong also said she immediately contacted police to ask their protocol for donated human remains.
Mystery items and surprises in the donation box are common when a large donation is received after cleaning out a home, but Strong told the Journal and Courier that the pouches of human remains were the "strangest" she has ever seen.
She told the Journal and Courier, "I'm just happy that they did find the family."
