Local mom returns money mistakenly dispensed at ATM

Glenolden, Pa. (WTXF) - A local mom did the right thing when hundreds of dollars was mistakenly dispensed to her from an ATM. What she did has people cheering for her.

She thinks it was a test from the universe. The single mom praying for a miracle suddenly finds cash literally flying at her. She could have cried at the irony but instead she made a decision.

"20 dollar bills started coming out at me for like 30 seconds. Some of them were in stacks of 20s some were singles," she told FOX 29.

Kristina Edwards could not believe what she was seeing. Hundreds of dollars pouring out of the drive-thru ATM she'd been using in Glenolden Sunday morning. The single mom was just taking out grocery money. Instead the universe was handed her almost $400 through the deposit slot.

"The money was coming out at me so I took the money. And I sat there and I checked my balance to make sure it wasn't my account and it wasn't," she explained.

Just like that the mom of two found herself at a crossroads. Should she take the money from the broken ATM even though it wasn't hers? Perhaps it was an answer to the prayer the struggling young mother had said the night before.

Kristina was alone and there was no one around to claim the wad of bills. And yet: "I was concerned that someone deposited their paycheck and they don't have their money in their account," she said.

She thought of others. Perhaps it was her training as a registered nurse, or the understanding of what it's like to work hard yet never have enough.

"I know what it's like to struggle with money," she said. "$380 is a lot of money to a lot of people."

Kristina called the bank and when it opened the next day she and her mom dropped off the renegade bills. Character after all is what you do when no one is looking. Even if you could use the cash.

Besides what would her children think; 7-year-old Ava and 9-year-old Gavin?

"I love my mom and I want her to do good things," said Gavin.