These historic family heirlooms may have been accidentally donated to Goodwill

Edmonton — An Edmonton Goodwill centre is looking to the public for help in returning some historic family heirlooms that may have been donated by accident.

The items include black and white photos, passports, birth certificates, letters, and a ration card dating back as far as 1941 and appear to come from Taiwan, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.

Doug Roxburgh, the Marketing Manager for Goodwill Industries of Alberta, told CTV News Edmonton that once the items appeared, they were immediately red flagged.

“They have been saved for a reason, and I say that because there’s some old letters that were addressed specifically to family members and these letters date back 40 to 50 years and the paper is so brittle you have to be extremely careful with it.”

The items appear to all come from the same family, and some of the lost heirlooms were originally mailed from Hong Kong to Edmonton over 25 years ago. However, the person who received them has a very common name, adding to the difficulty in locating the owners.

“We started looking into who donated them, where’d they come from and then we just kind of hit a roadblock, and now we’re kind of reaching out to the public,” Roxburgh said.

While accidental donations are common, the sentimental value of items like these items are relatively unique. Roxburgh notes that no matter how long it takes, they want these items to get back to where they believe.

“At the end of the day, our community is our family. We’ll still try to find the right hands to put these into. More than likely we’ll try to still find the family, even if it’s a year down the road.”

The lost items were donated to the south side Goodwill location. If you recognize any of the items or have any information about their owner, you can contact the South Park Goodwill at 780-944-1414.