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FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - A Fredericksburg woman thought she was being kind by giving money to a homeless man, but she didn't know that her wedding ring was mixed in with the pile of loose change.
On congested Route 3 in Fredericksburg locals say someone without a home is usually standing on a median.
"They walk back and forth, back and forth and I reached in my wallet and gave him some change," said Lisa Shelton.
Shelton did what she says she often does while stopped at the light: she helped a stranger. But she also has another ritual.
Shelton shared, "I always take my rings off and put lotion on and stick 'em in my change purse so I don't lose 'em."
That is exactly what happened when she donated her pocket change.
"I get back to the office, I look to put my rings back on and my wedding band is gone," she remembered.
She jumped back in the car to find the homeless man she had just helped.
"I drove all the way back here like a hundred miles an hour and he wasn't there," said Shelton.
She searched the roadside but no luck. The man, 43-year-old Andy Foster, had left.
Foster didn't know that he had the wedding ring until he started counting change that night. He was desperate to get it back to its owner.
Meanwhile, Shelton found another homeless man who said he knew the man for whom she was searching.
Foster explained, "She caught up with a buddy of mine, who I am staying with at present. She gives him her number. I call her that night and we meet right here at this Giant and I handed the ring back to her."
Shelton told us, "My heart went out to him like, is there something I can do to help you with?"
One wedding band and two lives crossed.
"I don't lie, I don't cheat, I don't steal," said Foster. "I am an honest man."
Shelton said, "He kept saying that to me and I couldn't have picked a better guy."
She gave him a thank you card, and a cash donation and they shared a lesson for all: "People shouldn't prejudge people."
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