Something Good: Yukon Woman Finds Hope Is In the Cards

Mandy and Jeriod Townsend's wedding was picture perfect, a first-rate event.

You'd never know it was all second-hand.

"I thrifted my entire wedding. It all came from the Goodwill,” Yukon resident Mandy Townsend said. “I wanted my wedding to tell a story and I loved the fact that I had items that were probably from somebody's story."

But there was one story that Mandy hadn't yet un-pocketed.

A month before the wedding, she was shopping for a jacket for her son at the Goodwill in Yukon.

"My son is 6'3" and so finding a jacket is sometimes not the easiest thing in the world to do. Once I picked it up, I looked it over, I was just like, 'This is it,'" she said.

A week later, Mandy discovered six index cards inside the jacket pocket.

The jacket was a perfect fit in more ways than one. The cards chronicled a journey of addiction and then recovery, likely notes for a speech from the previous owner.

Mandy's son Nate is currently battling addiction.

"That moment, I just sat down on the stairs and cried for two hours," Townsend said.

Nate would wear that jacket at the wedding and walk his mother down the aisle.

"Right before we took our steps, I told him, 'I bought that jacket for you at the Goodwill, and there's something that's inside of it, and God put it there just for you,'” she said. “Since then, he's been working on it, and coming out of a dark place."

Mandy reached out on Facebook, hoping to find the jacket's previous owner.

The post has been shared more than 3,000 times.

"Got a lot of sobriety celebrations, which is amazing. I also had a lot of messages from people that are fighting with sobriety and haven't seen their kids in six, seven, eight years. I'm building friendships and I'm able to give those people a little bit of hope."

Whether Mandy ever finds the writer of those cards, either way, she got the bargain of a lifetime.

"I paid almost $8 for the jacket. And the value on it is priceless," she said.

If you or someone you know is battling addiction, you can find resources at the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.