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| Susan Babbitt |
(Scroll down for video) An animal shelter thought that their financial problems are finally over after they received a huge donation.
The founder of an animal shelter in Oklahoma, said she was delighted to receive the donation of $188,981.03 and dismayed to learn that she had to return it.
Susan Babbitt said she was very excited when lawyers for Mary K. Thomas, a woman in Arizona who recently passed away at the age of 68 years, contacted her and said that she had arranged for 27.5 percent of her assets to be donated to the Friends of Collinsville Animal Shelter.
"Can you believe it?" Babbitt said. "We thought we were sitting on top of the world," she added.
Babbitt said she received the check and it quickly cleared in her bank, but soon after, the lawyers contacted her again and informed her that the whole thing was just one huge mistake.
The lawyers said that the money had been earmarked for the Friends of Collinsville Animal Shelter in Illinois, which has changed its name to Warren Billhartz Collinsville Animal Shelter.
"The two animal shelters have the same name," Matt Dana, managing partner of the Dana law firm in Scottsdale, Arizona said. "That's where the confusion began," she added.
“Poor woman. She already thought to have struck it rich only to have the money taken away from her. I hope that some people will now step up and donate some money to this animal shelter so the she will have enough money to continue helping unwanted animals,” Francis McCoy, 21, of Columbia, South Carolina told YourJewishNews.com after learning about the mistaken donation.
Babbitt said she has consulted with lawyers and found to have no choice but to pay the money back.Mobile video not loading? Click here to view