Woman Found an Original Artwork in a Florida Dumpster

It’s amazing how the world connects people in the most inspiring and heartwarming ways. No one knows how these things work out — how the right person was at the right place and time. Sometimes strangers become an instrument for prayers to be answered. What you are looking for will be given by the person with enough goodwill to do the right thing.

One of those answered prayers involved a woman in Florida named Pam Mehaffey. She found a long-lost artwork in a dumpster outside her RV and immediately looked for the owner.

Photo: Youtube/NBC2 News

Finding the beautiful artwork beside all that trash was a mystery — no one knows who dumped it in the first place. Pam was able to identify the artist. The artist’s name was written on a sticker at the back of the painting. Good thing artists typically leave a name or signature on their artwork. Pam found out that the creator was Bernadette Poulus. Also, the sticker says that the painting was actually from New York. It was indeed a mystery for Pam how a lovely piece of art from New York got dumped in Tampa, Florida.

Photo: Youtube/NBC2 News

“I kind of thought of the story of the traveling pants,” Mehaffey said. “This is the traveling painting.” Pam was determined to use all the clues she found in the painting to find the artist. With the help of social media, she found a person named Arielle Poulus who might be related to Bernadette. Pam introduced herself to Arielle and shared the story about the painting. Interestingly, Pam confided with the right person, as Arielle was definitely related to Bernadette — she was the artist’s daughter.

The inspiring story was featured by NBC2 News and interviewed Arielle from her Fort Myers condo. Arielle shared that she instantly cried upon reading Pam’s message. It was an emotional moment for her, because the painting was her mother’s remembrance, as she died in 2004. According to Arielle and her dad, Tom, Bernadette’s artworks are always sold out, because when she died, they couldn’t keep a lot of her works. What’s more incredible was that the painting Pam found was an artwork Bernadette did while pregnant while Arielle.

Photo: Youtube/NBC2 News

Pam recently went to Fort Myers to return the painting to its family. In Tom’s words, “We got a piece of her back.” The painting coming back home was like a symbol of Bernadette finally returning to her family. Apart from that, the painting is also a reminder that people with good hearts, like Pam, still exist in the world.

Watch the heartwarming interview from NBC2 News by playing the video below.

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