North Fort Myers man returns wallet with $1K in cash

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CAPE CORAL, Fla. Southwest Florida residents are dealing with the chaos of buying supplies in time for Hurricane Irma.

But the rush didn’t stop North Fort Myers resident Earl Hawk, 75, from an act of kindness.

Hawk was walking through the plywood aisle at a Home Depot in Cape Coral when he noticed a wallet with about $1,000 in cash on the floor.

“I looked down and I thought, that looks like a wallet. I stopped, picked it up and it looked that thick,” Hawk said.

The wallet belonged to Karl Deigert, of Matlacha, who was preparing for Hurricane Irma.

“Home Depot was a beehive of activity, people running around. I really just thought that wallet was never coming back, but it came back,” Deigert said.

Hawk was able to get in contact with Deigert five hours after finding the wallet.

“Storms like this, what we’re going through right now, brings the community together. It did it Houston, Irma’s going to do it for the entire state of Florida,” Deigert said.

Deigert offered Hawk a free stay at his motel and a fishing trip for his kindness.

“That’s what you’re supposed to do in life. If everybody helped each other, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in,” Hawk said.

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