Earlier in the week, Jake McAlpin accidentally discarded his daughter Charlotte's stuffed animal Cupcake in the trash.
Their community in New Hampshire worked together to find the beloved stuffed animal that ended up in the garbage.
"I said, 'What are you looking for?' And she goes, 'Cupcake,' and somewhere in the back of my head was like, is that the stuffed animal I just took to the dump," McAlpin said.
Charlotte's stepmother, Meredith, made a post on Facebook asking if anyone might be able to open the dump. Luckily, Selectman Brian Monahan saw the post.
"I got a hold of Dan and sent him a screenshot of what Meredith had written and said, 'Hey, can we go find this thing?'" Monahan said.
On Thursday morning in the rain, they went to the dump using all the tools they had to dig through the trash.
"The compactor compacts it very, very tightly, so at one point, Dan had to use the backhoe to actually pull trash out, which tears bags open, and my biggest fear was we're going to find it covered in garbage," Monahan said.
McAlpin arrived later to help.
"When I got to the dump and saw what was going on there, I honestly didn't think there was a chance we'd find it because there was so much trash," McAplin said.
Monahan's wife was there and said she might have seen the stuffed toy.
"Pulled it out, flipped it up to Jake, and stood there waist-deep in the trash bags, and he held up the dog," Monahan said.
Dan Conway, superintendent of the Strafford Recycling Center, said, "It made us feel pretty good no one wants to be without their stuffy, and the smile on her face said it all."
Apparently, Charlotte washed Cupcake and left her out to dry on the porch. That's when her dad picked the stuffed animal and threw her away. But from now on, she'll opt to throw her in the dryer instead.
We're glad it was a happy ending for Charlotte now that she is reunited with Cupcake.
Source: WMUR9ABC