Kim Newberry said she wants to encourage people to #BeASheryl. The hashtag is part of a personal campaign to share and encourage acts of kindness like the one she experienced as a customer at Walmart. She and her husband own Newberry Bros. Coffee in Newport and have shared the story on both their personal and business accounts.
Newberry visits her mother, who lives in Amelia, Ohio, regularly. One day, after visiting her mom, she decided to stop by the Eastgate Walmart store to pick up some treats for her dogs.
“I don’t carry a purse with me very often but for some reason I grabbed my wallet and put it in the cart,” she said. “And so through the store I went, grabbing the few things I wanted. I went through self-check out and I walked out to my car… When I got back to Newport, I pulled in front of our building and all of a sudden I was like, ‘where is my wallet?’”
She described that sinking feeling familiar to anyone who’s lost something of value. “I looked in the back of the car, looked in my bag on the seat next to me, looked on the floor. I immediately started to get panicked. So I called my husband…and he said ‘Go!’”
Going above and beyond
Newberry put the key right back into the ignition and headed back to the store, all the while trying to reach someone there on the phone. After going through prompts and holds, she finally reached a human, a woman named Sheryl.
Sheryl Steele has been with Walmart going on five years. She sits inside the store in a small area carved out of the fitting room, answering five customer service phone lines.
When she finally reached Steele, Newberry said, she poured out her story. First, Steele put her on hold so she should call the front desk to find out if the wallet had been returned. Unfortunately, she reported, no wallet there.
At this point, Newberry said Steele could have simply told her sorry and to check back again in a few days. After all, the customer service rep would have many calls coming in that needed attention. But what happened next delighted Newberry, so much so that she wanted to make sure Steele’s help and kindness did not go unnoticed.
Steele asked Newberry details about where she’d been and where she parked. Steele put Newberry on hold again but when she returned, she was out of breath. She told Newberry she ran out to look but since she is 70 years old she asked two younger employees to run out to the parking lot to check.
Newberry was on hold again, but soon Steele returned with the news that they had indeed found the wallet. By that point Newberry arrived at the store. After picking up her wallet at the front desk, she went off in search of Steele to give her a big hug.
Kindness in a difficult time
“I was crying,” said Newberry. “She was very sweet, very tender and caring. I reached into my wallet and pulled out what money I had and said I want to give you something for you and the boys to say thank you.”
Steele refused the money, but said, if Newberry really wanted to share her good fortune, she could make that a donation to help the people of Ukraine.
“At that moment, I thought with all the divisiveness, all the ‘who’s a Republican?’ and “who’s a Democrat?” and who’s this and who’s that….we are coming together for a nation under siege, and that is what she thought of…It really touched me in a way that is hard to explain emotionally, but she really did.”
#BeASheryl
Newberry and her husband wanted to share the story of a simple act of kindness to encourage others to “pass it on.” Since it was International Women’s Day, Newberry dedicated the day to Steele and to ask others to #BeASheryl.
With all the bad news and negativity in the world, Newberry said she wanted to grab onto that moment and that simple story. She said it resonated on social media, and she was overwhelmed with the positive response.
She also shared the story with Steele’s manager and paid her another visit to say thanks. The two spoke about the impact of kindness, and decided to work together to spread positivity in some way in the weeks and months ahead.
“My heart is happy,” said Newberry. “If this story inspires or uplifts even one person, we’ve done good.”
