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Cops for Cancer team finds $2,350 in cash lost by would-be sheep farmer in Chilliwack

Cyclists managed to corral 23 $100 bills meant to purchase blackbelly sheep
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The 2022 Cops for Cancer Tour de Valley team, with Sgt. Krista Vrolyk holding the team’s framed $100 donation from Chilliwack man who lost $2,700. (Minon Daubigeon photo)

The Cops for Cancer riders were zooming down a country road in Chilliwack as part the Tour de Valley team when they spotted $100 bills that seemed to “just fall from the sky.”

At first some thought they were being “pranked,” as their tires rolled right over the $100 bills, said Sgt. Krista Vrolyk of the Chilliwack RCMP, one of the team’s participants.

They couldn’t believe it when they spotted the first bill. Then another, and yet another.

“It was unreal,” Vrolyk remembered. “So much money. It seemed to just fall from the sky!”

It happened on Day Three of their Cops for Cancer Tour de Valley, and the team stopped to pick up the loose cash in order to hand it over to police for safekeeping.

Some joked it might be “drug money,” blowing in the wind, the RCMP spokesperson said, but it turned out a Chilliwack man had just lost an envelope full of cash that he withdrew to purchase a flock of ‘blackbelly’ sheep.

The team had just wrapped up their fundraising ride in Chilliwack and were heading to Abbotsford, raising money for the the Canadian Cancer Society and pediatric cancer research. The members pulled over and ended up recovering 23 of the $100 bills and one $50 bill, for a total of $2,350 of the man’s missing $2,700 for his sheep.

The Cops for Cancer team contacted Chilliwack RCMP to let them know that they had found the cash and would be turning it in.

“Could it be any more Chilliwack?” Vrolyk said about the bizarre turn of events.

The young man and his father had been at a nearby farm picking up a trailer, which they hooked up to their truck. The would-be sheep farmer had placed the envelope full of cash on the “tongue” part of the trailer, and then drove off.

“They were halfway to Abbotsford when they realized what had happened and immediately turned around, hoping that by some act of faith the money would still be there.”

They returned to the scene, and spotted one measly $50 bill.

They then took to social media and called it into the RCMP on the off chance that a Good Samaritan had found the money.

The call came within the hour.

”People often say that Chilliwack is a small town in a big city. It turned out that one of the riders knew the young man’s family and he was able to meet up with the team the following day to share his story and personally thank them.”

“Although feeling ‘a little sheepish’ about his ‘dumb move,’ he was also extremely grateful to the team and showed his gratitude with a framed $100 bill donation to the Canadian Cancer Society’s Cops for Cancer,” Vrolyk concluded.

RELATED: 3 envelopes full of cash found in Coquitlam

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Cops found most of the cash lost by Chilliwack man who was going to purchase blackbelly sheep with it. (Sheri Elgersma photo)


Jennifer Feinberg

About the Author: Jennifer Feinberg

I have been a Chilliwack Progress reporter for 20+ years, covering city hall, Indigenous, business, and climate change stories.
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