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Delivery mystery: Salmon Arm resident hopes to give thanks to sender

Bouquet, gift basket initially dropped off by mistake at neighbour’s house
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Salmon Arm resident Sara Mitchell was able to locate the intended recipient of a gift basket left at her house on Dec. 5. Now the recipient, Karen Whidden, is trying to find the person who made the initial delivery to say thanks. (Contributed)

With the solving of one mystery, another has arisen.

Karen Whidden recently received a bouquet of flowers and a gift basket delivered by the kids of a neighbour, Sara Mitchell. The gifts weren’t actually from Mitchell. However, they were mistakenly left on Mitchell’s doorstep around mid-morning on Dec. 5.

A card included with the gift basket said it was from someone named Mark, but no last name was included. The gifts were given as a token of thanks to the intended recipient, who was also unnamed.

Mitchell set out to find the rightful recipient of the bouquet and basket and eventually contacted the Observer for help.

“I’d love to deliver these gifts to the proper recipient as I feel that that person must be very worthy of the thoughtfulness of Mark,” said Mitchell, who had been caring for the bouquet.

The mistaken delivery to Mitchell’s doorstep was in response to events of Dec. 4. On that day, Whidden found a wallet in the parking lot at Centenoka Park Mall. She said the wallet still had everything in it – money, credit cards, etc. It also included a list of contacts. She called one number that wound up being Mark’s spouse.

“I told her who I was and I said I have Mark’s wallet,” said Whidden. “She said, ‘Oh dear!’ He didn’t even know he lost it.”

Whidden said she gave her address and within 15 minutes a vehicle pulled up with Mark and his spouse.

“He wanted to give me all the money in the wallet, he tried to give me it and I said, ‘No, no, no.’ I said we don’t need the money, I’m just glad that we found it for you,” said Whidden.

The following day, Bruce, Karen’s husband, thought he saw Mark’s vehicle stop by at a neighbour’s house and Mark drop something off.

“He said I’m pretty sure that was the guy who dropped the wallet,” said Karen. “I said you should go knock on their door, but he wouldn’t go. Men are funny.”

The Observer published a story about Mitchell’s mystery delivery on Dec. 10. Karen learned about it from another neighbour and gave Mitchell a call.

Mitchell sent an email to the Observer offering thanks for assisting with the re-delivery of the gift basket and bouquet. Now it’s the Whiddens who are trying to find out who Mark is so they can thank him for his kind gesture.

“I couldn’t pronounce his last name so I have no idea who they are. I just know his name is Mark and they were very generous – way too generous,” said Karen.

Mark, or anyone who can help Karen connect with him, can reach her at 250-832-3467.

Read more: Mistaken delivery: Salmon Arm resident hopes to deliver gifts to intended recipient



lachlan@saobserver.net
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