GARDENA : Club Worker Is a Real Ace at Good Deeds

The wallet is tucked beneath a chair at the Normandie Club casino in Gardena, barely visible to anyone passing by. Its owner is nowhere in sight when porter Juan Contreras spots it.

Contreras takes the wallet to his manager. It’s just another wallet, similar to eight others he has found in his 16 years at the casino.

“I was curious, but I didn’t look inside,” says Contreras, a 42-year-old father of three. “I didn’t even know how much money was in it.”

The casino manager flips it open and exposes a stack of bills--$4,000 in all. When the owner retrieves the wallet, he pulls out another $2,000 that was hidden inside.

Word of Contreras’ honesty flows through the casino, and his good deed is greeted with smiles, handshakes and kind words. The owner, bursting with excitement after getting back his winnings, gives Contreras a $300 reward.

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Every now and again, someone asks why he didn’t just slip the wallet into his pocket and stroll quietly away. Contreras says he was just doing his job, and his job is more important than keeping the wallet.

“He always looks happy because he has a clean conscience,” co-worker Fern Haning says. Now, because of his honesty, Contreras is the first recipient of the Gardena Moose Lodge 2062 “Way to Go!” award.

In conjunction with the “Farmer’s Almanac” crusade to make 1995 the “Year to Catch People in the Act of Doing Good Deeds,” the Moose Lodge has started a program in Gardena.

Armed with “Way to Go!” cards, members are on the lookout for anyone in Gardena caught in the act. And they’re enlisting the help of city residents.

Everyone who is nominated to the “Way to Go!” program will be honored. And the most outstanding nominee could get a ride in the Goodyear blimp.

The good deed could be something simple, like helping someone unstick two grocery carts. Or it could be something requiring more than a few minutes, like taking the neighbor’s kid to the doctor if he fell from a tree.

“In this complex and sometimes impersonal world, too many a good deed goes unrecognized,” says John Warhol, a Moose Lodge member.

Contreras says he never expected recognition for turning in the wallet. “But it made me feel good.”

To nominate someone in Gardena, contact: Gardena Moose Lodge, 15509 S. Vermont, Gardena, 90247.