BUENA PARK : Good Deed Puts Family on Pedestal

Their reward came from people they have never met--people from all over the country who reached into their pocketbooks to show the Nichter family that honesty pays.

Homeless and jobless, Tom and Pauline Nichter and their 11-year-old son, Jason, have become role models since they turned in a wallet containing $2,394 in cash, a credit card, a passport and a plane ticket Thursday night.

Ever since the story appeared in newspapers and on television about the wallet they found at a toy store in Buena Park Mall, they have been stunned by the outpouring of donations, letters and interview requests from across the country.

The wallet belonged to a tourist visiting from New Caledonia, who thanked the Nichters for their honesty.

“It’s just overwhelming for our family,” said a teary-eyed Pauline Nichter, 46, at a news conference Tuesday at the Buena Park Police Department. “I can’t believe this. All we did was what we were brought up to do--to be honest. We’re getting our second chance, and God, it feels good.”

Tom Nichter, 44, said that just when he and his family were about to give up hope, “all this happened.”

At the news conference, Mayor Arthur C. Brown presented the Nichters with a commendation from the city, and Detective David L. Woofter gave them a check for $300 from the Buena Park Police Assn. Police Chief Richard M. Tefank handed Jason a set of Drug Abuse Resistance Education trading cards.

“It’s just like a dream--a miracle that has happened to us,” said Jason, who has a collection of 1,402 baseball cards and whose classmates have even asked him for his autograph.

The family had been up since 3 a.m. Tuesday to prepare for their first ride in a limousine. At 4 a.m., they were whisked away to Burbank to be guests via satellite on the “Today” show.

“Never in a million years would I have thought this would happen for us,” Pauline Nichter said.

She said the requests for interviews has been nonstop and have included magazines, newspapers and talk shows from Los Angeles to Canada. Talk show host Maury Povich and radio celebrity Rick Dees have also called.

The Nichters opened some of the letters in a cardboard box during the news conference and were surprised at the public’s generosity.

“It’s like a late Christmas here for us,” Pauline Nichter said.

One 74-year-old widow sent the family a check for $20 because that’s all she could afford. “I wish I could send more,” she wrote. “But at least I have a place to live and food to eat.”

The Nichters were most impressed with a check for $2,400. An elderly couple from Paradise in Northern California arrived at the Police Department after hearing about the Nichters and asked the amount of money they had returned. The husband wrote out the check and said, “Then that’s what they deserve,” according to police.

Pauline Nichter said she was laid off from her job at a Buena Park company a year ago. Her husband, who has worked in warehouses, hasn’t had a steady job in a year.

The Nichters, married 24 years, said a woman has given them six months’ free rent in a Garden Grove apartment complex she owns.

In October, when they could no longer afford the rent on their house, the Nichters began living out of motel rooms. They tried living out of their car but found the streets too dangerous.

Two weeks ago, when Pauline’s unemployment benefits ran out, the family moved in with her parents in Buena Park. “They were kind of a last resort,” she said.

The Nichters said they plan to move into their new apartment this weekend. With the donations, they now will be able to pay bills.

“It’s almost like a dream come true,” Pauline Nichter said, adding, “What do say to these people? ‘Thank you’ is not enough.”