Homeless man to the rescue
Published: August 30, 2006
A promise ring has new meaning for its owner after it was lost and found again with the help of two dumpster-diving strangers.
Bianca Hunt, 17, was visiting Vancouver from Saskatoon when she lost the silver, diamond-studded band at her sister’s apartment complex two weeks ago.
“I was devastated,” she said. “That ring doesn’t leave my finger, but I was going in the hot tub . . . so I left it on the pool deck.”
Hunt forgot about the ring until the next day. But when she went back to the pool it was gone.
“It was just a tiny little promise ring, but it meant the world to me,” she said. “I put up notices in the all the apartment’s elevators, but in a few hours someone took them down.”
Unbeknownst to Hunt, the ring had been found by Vancouver art designer Scott Lauder, whose girlfriend lives in the building. Lauder put on the ring, meaning to turn it in to the building’s doorman, but soon forgot all about it. He noticed it again while at a friend’s apartment, where he took it off and left it on a counter.
“I’m really embarrassed to admit it, but I didn’t think of [the ring] until I saw a note in the elevator,” he said. “All of a sudden, I felt horribly guilty.”
Lauder called his friend, who told him he had thrown away the band, thinking it was fake.
“That meant I was going to have to go through his dumpster,” he said.
That day after work, Lauder went dumpster-diving. After looking through the trash with no success, he decided to enlist the help of a homeless man named Allan who was also looking through the bin.
For $20, Allan agreed to help him hunt. “[Allan] looked at me and said, ‘Let’s find it.’ I had faith that he would be able to do it,” said Lauder.
The two men chatted as they searched, but after two hours, Lauder had to go home.
“I gave [Allan] the money and then I asked him, ‘Can I trust you?’ He looked me right in the eye and said, ‘What makes you think you can’t?’ I told him he was right and that I trusted him.”
The men struck a deal: If Allan found the ring, he would leave it in a vent on the side of the apartment. If Lauder visited the building in the morning and saw the ring there, he would leave another $20 for him.
“I got home, but I kept thinking about it, feeling guilty that I wasn’t there,” said Lauder. “At 10:30, I went back. I saw Allan standing in a doorway and I knew he had found it. His face had this look of accomplishment.”
In the vent, Lauder found the ring. “I was overwhelmed almost to the point of tears,” he said. “What I did for [Allan] was monetary, but he gave me something more . . . He made me realize I’m often too quick to judge.”
Hunt was also overcome with emotion upon hearing her ring had been found.
“I’m so happy, I can’t stop smiling,” she said from Saskatoon. “My boyfriend gave me the ring for our two-year anniversary and we’ve been through a lot of negative stuff. This means so much to me.”
Lauder plans to give the ring to Hunt’s sister, who will complete the circle and get it back to its rightful owner.
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