A teenager from Iowa visiting Corpus Christi, Texas, with her choir lost something valuable during the trip she thought was gone forever.
Seventeen-year-old Emily Dickerson was with her group at McGee Beach after a performance at Six Flags in San Antonio, KHOU reported Friday.
At the time, she was wearing a ring that contained her deceased father’s ashes.
“This is what I have so my Dad is with me all the time, no matter what,” she told KSAT.
However, the young woman removed it and placed it inside a Subway sandwich box for safekeeping at the beach. After her group left the area she realized she had left it behind, but the chartered bus could not return.
When her mother, Tina, called the city and left a message for the Parks and Recreation team, Parks Operation Supervisor Laura Perez heard the message and immediately knew what had to be done.
The conscientious worker traced the trash to a huge dumpster that was sitting outside in the heat and with help from her teammates, dove in and sorted through the trash.
Video footage shows Perez opening the four-ton dumpster filled with garbage:
Three hours into their search, the team found what they were looking for. However, there were three additional missing rings belonging to Dickerson, each with sentimental value.
The team dug through the trash again and their attempt was a great success.
Dickerson said, “I was in disbelief. I was so shocked that they were so capable.”
The young woman told KSAT the team did not know the whole story behind the rings or their value, but “They went above and beyond to do that.”