Red Balloon Travels To Maryland; Finder Rewarded
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
It's a 677-mile trip to Silver Spring, Md., from Claypool, but the red balloon and tag made it, and Sam Bell Jr. picked it up.
Bell is the only person to report and return a tag to Housing Opportunities of Warsaw by the Sept. 19 deadline. After receiving $10 for his trouble, he also won $500, by default, as the only entrant in the Claypool Good Neighbors-sponsored drawing.
In August, 41 red balloons with tags were released to promote the Good Neighbors next series of projects.
The balloons were purchased for $99 by businesses and individuals with ties to Claypool. Many were bought in memory of late relatives and friends.
Balloon sale money will be used as matching funds for an owner-occupied housing rehabilitation grant from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority.
Bell is a security guard for the Seventh-day Adventist Church's world headquarters.
"There is a large grassy field next to the parking lot where kids fly kites. Initially, I thought the deflated balloon was part of a kite," Bell said. Then he took a closer look at the balloon, string and tag sponsored by Purity Cylinder Gases.
Bell followed the instructions on the tag directing him to the Good Neighbors Web site. He called HOW and talked to director Pam Kennedy.
"She said I was the only person who found a tag and that mine had probably been there two days. It was just one of those things. I happened to look. My co-workers didn't see it."
Bell, 41, said this was the first significant award he's ever received. He plans to spend the money on a seven-month-old male Rottweiler rescued in Mississippi. The dog was abandoned by its owners after Hurricane Katrina. Bell and his wife already have a female Rottweiler.
Silver Spring is on the outskirts of Washington, D.C.
Kennedy had high hopes that one of the balloons landed on the White House lawn, but she hasn't received any word.
"We had a report that a red balloon and tag were spotted up in a tree in Myrtle Beach, S.C.," Kennedy said. "But it's not official until we receive the tag in the mail. We'll still pay $5 for each returned tag." [[In-content Ad]]
It's a 677-mile trip to Silver Spring, Md., from Claypool, but the red balloon and tag made it, and Sam Bell Jr. picked it up.
Bell is the only person to report and return a tag to Housing Opportunities of Warsaw by the Sept. 19 deadline. After receiving $10 for his trouble, he also won $500, by default, as the only entrant in the Claypool Good Neighbors-sponsored drawing.
In August, 41 red balloons with tags were released to promote the Good Neighbors next series of projects.
The balloons were purchased for $99 by businesses and individuals with ties to Claypool. Many were bought in memory of late relatives and friends.
Balloon sale money will be used as matching funds for an owner-occupied housing rehabilitation grant from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority.
Bell is a security guard for the Seventh-day Adventist Church's world headquarters.
"There is a large grassy field next to the parking lot where kids fly kites. Initially, I thought the deflated balloon was part of a kite," Bell said. Then he took a closer look at the balloon, string and tag sponsored by Purity Cylinder Gases.
Bell followed the instructions on the tag directing him to the Good Neighbors Web site. He called HOW and talked to director Pam Kennedy.
"She said I was the only person who found a tag and that mine had probably been there two days. It was just one of those things. I happened to look. My co-workers didn't see it."
Bell, 41, said this was the first significant award he's ever received. He plans to spend the money on a seven-month-old male Rottweiler rescued in Mississippi. The dog was abandoned by its owners after Hurricane Katrina. Bell and his wife already have a female Rottweiler.
Silver Spring is on the outskirts of Washington, D.C.
Kennedy had high hopes that one of the balloons landed on the White House lawn, but she hasn't received any word.
"We had a report that a red balloon and tag were spotted up in a tree in Myrtle Beach, S.C.," Kennedy said. "But it's not official until we receive the tag in the mail. We'll still pay $5 for each returned tag." [[In-content Ad]]