They say that no good deed goes unpunished. Unlike many adages, this one is a bit abstract in its meaning. It speaks to the phenomenon of unfortunate things happening when we attempt to perform some sort of kindness. There’s often a cost for doing something good. Sometimes that cost is so inconsequential we don’t even notice it. And other times, the loss is so great it may cause us to question whether we should have performed the good deed at all.
One 76-year-old woman might be questioning her decision to donate her jacket to charity after she realized the clothing item contained a winning lottery ticket.
Mildred bought the ticket last year.
Mildred Simoneriluto of Pennsylvania bought the lottery ticket in May 2024 from a grocery store in Murrysville. Two weeks later, she realized that the ticket was a winner. There was just one problem: She couldn’t find it. Then she remembered that she left the winning lottery ticket in a jacket she donated to the Vietnam Veterans of America, an organization that offers services to veterans.
The organization serves people all over the world, so Mildred’s ticket could be anywhere. It’s worth $2.5 million.
In an interview with ABC 7, Mildred described how she felt when she learned she’d misplaced the ticket. “I was stupefied,” she said. “I was — there’s no words for it. It was like beyond expression — ‘How can I get it back?’” Mildred explained that she put the ticket in her pocket so she wouldn’t forget about it.
She still remembers the winning combination.
While Mildred doesn’t have the ticket anymore, she still remembers the winning numbers: 14, 22, 33, 35, and 38. She’s visited the grocery store several times since she first purchased it a year ago. But the employees can’t be of any help. The grocery store told Mildred that in order to cash in on the prize, she’d have to have the physical ticket in her possession.
‘What else can I do?’ she asked.
“What else can I do?” she asked. “Cry out loud and hope that something positive will happen on my end?” Mildred’s decision to speak to the news could have a few effects. Someone may come forward and return her ticket, or it might expire in that jacket and Mildred will miss out on her chance of becoming a millionaire. Hopefully, her decision to donate comes with some good fortune.
