A local mom was reunited with her lost engagement ring, thanks to the kindness of strangers.
A fun day at Ness Lake turned into a devastating experience for Brandi Dunsmore, when she lost her ring while swimming with her daughter around noon on Aug. 13.
“It's a little bit big so when I go on the lake my hands get cold and the ring is a bit loose,” said Dunsmore, adding that she was also trying to put sunscreen on her daughter who was excited and eager to get in the lake.
“So, I took the ring off and I put it in my pocket and when I put it in my pocket, I said to myself, 'don't do that you will lose it.'”
With all of the excitement of getting the kids ready for swimming, she forgot the ring was in her pocket and soon dove into the lake and splashed around with her daughter.
“I was chasing her and splashing water at her with my legs. Then instantly I remembered my ring was in my pocket,” said Dunsmore.
When she checked her pocket, the ring was gone and she entered panic mode.
They spent the rest of their six hours at the lake looking for the ring, with a few couples and kids with goggles joining in to help.
Her husband, who was at home with their baby, even drove out to the lake and spent another three hours looking for the ring.
“When we had to leave the lake, I was hysterical,” said Dunsmore, adding she decided to make a post on social media and ask the community for help on the off-chance someone finds the ring and looks for its owner.
That night, they ordered Chinese food because they were too exhausted to cook and her husband gave her a fortune cookie and said “tonight is the night you need to check your fortune.”
Dunsmore opened the fortune cookie and it read “something wonderful is about to happen to you” and within 48 hour she had her ring back.
That's because Matt Trudel, a local firefighter, saw her post on Facebook and decided he could help find the ring.
“They all dive and look for treasures… It's just kind of like a hobby, and when they saw my post and saw that it was deep water…they just went and had a look for me.”
On Aug. 15, Trudel called her though Facebook Messenger to tell her he found the ring and said he could drop it off in 20 minutes.
“Those 20 minutes felt like two hours,” said Dunsmore, “He said it was below the weeds. It was completely encased, so you wouldn't have seen it.
The ring was 12 feet deep and it took Trudel and a friend two and a half hours to find and recover the ring.
“They were determined to find this ring. It's was the mission of the day and they found her,” said Dunsmore, adding she’s grateful for Trudel’s help.
“I'm a social worker for a living so I put hope in humanity. You need community, like you hear all the time, like it takes a village to raise a child. It's all about community.”
Dunsmore said she didn’t believe she’d ever see her ring again, but because she had asked for help and the community stepped up she now has her ring back.
“Even the power of social media, the way that it just took off. I had so many kind, generous people asking. It was just heartfelt, just out of the kindness of their heart, like nobody had to do that.”
