The shoe full of money that prompted a boss’s kind act towards a young barista

An 18-year-old student was “speechless” when her boss handed her €1,500 to replace money she had mistakenly given away to charity in an old shoe that held all her savings.
The day Rachela Mercieca opened up to her boss, Sarah Cachia, about what had happened, Cachia reached out to the community on social media platform Women for Women to collect the lost money. The next day she handed her a cheque.

“I can’t thank them enough. I was speechless and overwhelmed… I know it was my mistake… There is a lot of bad in the world but there is a lot of good and this showed me how kind people can be,” said Mercieca.
A first-year MCAST student, she had been juggling two part-time jobs as a barista – working all summer and, now, weekends and night shifts – to save up for her travel-and-car fund. Her dedication to work is evident as she was nominated barista of the year.
But she lost all her savings when her act of charity went totally wrong.
For a year-and-a-half, Rachela had been placing the money she saved in a shoe – a red Converse – in her room.
“I have a bank account where I keep the money I use day-to-day. But I used to put my savings in a shoe to make sure I don’t spend it. Looking...