Summer is the heart of wedding season and no tangible item represents “I DO” more than your wedding ring. Women and men wear this sentimental accessory daily to represent commitment, love, hope, and a happily ever after, which doesn’t just live in fairytales anymore.

For one Edgewater, Florida resident her “happily ever after” came from a routine visit to her local Walmart. While in the restroom, Theresa Williams accidentally threw away her wedding rings when she disposed of her trash, which she took off at that moment due to an injury to wash her hands.

Sometimes we go through life on cruise control and while Theresa was conscious of throwing away her trash, little did she realize she ended up throwing away so much more. It didn’t take long for her to recognize when she looked down at her hand something was missing. She immediately contacted Walmart with a sense of false hope that her rings were salvageable.

Thankfully, Walmart provided Theresa her needle in the haystack. Walmart connected Theresa with their waste solutions provider, Rubicon, and specifically, Rubicon’s Customer Care Representative Irwin Anderson Jr. who was able to orchestrate a miracle.

Irwin located the hauler assigned to Walmart that day and quickly provided the truck’s information to Theresa so she could follow the truck to the disposal facility. Acting quickly, Irwin was hopeful that if she was able to see where that day’s trash was dumped, she would be able to sort through it knowing her rings existed somewhere in that disposal facility.

Have you ever been to a waste disposal facility? Let’s just say it is less than desirable, but Theresa was not letting anything come between her and finding her irreplaceable jewels.

Luckily, the stars aligned for Theresa that hot day under the beaming Florida sun. “At 12:35 pm, after going through the trash pile a couple of times, I just stood there and prayed because I was about ready to give up. Then, I went to a little bag, tore it open and there were my rings. I have my treasures back and my heart is full. I want to thank you, Irwin, very much for the part of that you played in bringing this about for me,” Williams said. 

While this story is about hope and perseverance, it is also about how we care for our customers. Time was of the essence and as the clock ticked, the chances of Theresa finding her rings, so small in size but extra-large in meaning, became less and less realistic.

Irwin acted with intention and passion. He was an advocate for our customer, one of our seven core values at Rubicon. Above and beyond, this wasn’t the traditional call he would typically receive for an extra pickup service or an overflowing bin. But at that moment it didn’t matter.

A customer had a need and at Rubicon, our customers are our family. That specific day while Theresa was standing in the landfill and in that moment when she tore open the little bag to find her rings, two partners, Rubicon and Walmart, created Theresa’s “happily ever after.”