Amanda Mattuchio said her parents use a fake can of Campbell's Tomato Soup to hide their cash.
Unfortunately, they stored it alongside real soup cans in their kitchen.
“The bottom would unscrew and it had $2,500 in it and it was a combination of $100 and $50 bills,” she said. “The neighbor upstairs asked them if they had any canned goods they wanted to donate to the senior center.”
Her parents cleared out their soup cabinet, not giving their donations a second thought until several weeks later.
“When they went to put some more money into the can, they realized it had been put in with the donations. It was kind of devastating,” Mattuchio said.
Frank Leary runs the Middleton Food Pantry where those cans ended up. He says on average, they receive hundreds of donated cans of soup a week. They searched every single one but still haven't found that can.
“I would love to find the can of soup. That amount of money is a terrible, terrible loss for anyone,” Leary said. “For all I know, that Campbell tomato soup is sitting in someone's cabinet right now and they don't even know it.”
Mattuchio’s parents are retired and live on a fixed income. She is asking anyone who went to the Middleton Food Pantry within the past few weeks to open their cabinets and inspect their soup cans.
“I just hope whoever did find the money. If it has been found that they see this and they find it in their heart to return it,” Mattuchio said.
Leary said he will remain vigilant in hopes of finding the can. Middleton Police said they have reached out to the family to see what they can do.
“If I opened a can of soup and expected to get a hot bowl of soup and got a hot bowl of cash, it would make an impression on me that I would want to talk to my friends about it,” Leary said. \
Mattuchio's father said if the person who found the can doesn't return it, he hopes they can use the money to help make their own life a little easier.