Sometimes, after you've been hassled by one too many panhandlers or you hear from a colleague whose wallet and briefcase were lifted from his office, you get kind of down about working here.

Then you hear the story of the lost Christmas money and you are reminded what good people work here.

The hero in this story is Lillian Torres, a cashier at International House. The recipient of the good fortune is Gretchen Kell, a writer at the Public Information Office.

It was Torres who found an envelope containing a crisp $100 bill in the ASUC convenience store and promptly turned it in to campus police.

The envelope read: "To Gret, From Dad, for Something Special."

Torres said what pulled on her heartstrings was the note. "I felt so bad. It said it was from her Daddy, and this was someone who was not going to get something special" because the money was lost.

Kell had told coworkers about losing the envelope and they encouraged her to check with campus police, but no one held out much hope it would be turned in.

Torres said she understands how it feels to lose money. Her mother, recently visiting from Puerto Rico, lost her wallet with $800 in travel money at a Bay Area restaurant.

"What Lillian did helps restore one's faith in humanity, in the existence of honest and unselfish people," said Kell, who delivered a batch of her famous home-baked chocolate chip-oatmeal cookies to Torres at I House the next day.