NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) – A couple who lost an envelope filled with more than $2,000 in cash for Christmas gifts were the recipients of a huge dose of holiday spirit from a woman who returned the money.

Elizabeth “Babeth” Miglio spotted two unmarked envelopes on the ground while walking along Bayview Avenue on Thursday. One of them had $2,096 in cash. Miglio took the money to the police station.

“It was scary,” Miglio told The Newport Daily News. “I was thinking, Someone needs this money to pay bills.’ If I lost that much money, I could not sleep.”

Later Thursday, Robert Leno Sr. came by the station and asked if the envelopes had been turned in. He was in luck, especially after police verified the money belonged to him and his wife by matching the membership number on a receipt in an envelope with the number on Leno’s membership card.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Leno said. “It was just so amazing to me.”

Leno’s wife, Emily, had cashed a check and planned to use most of the money to buy Christmas gifts for the couple’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She believes the envelopes fell from her pocketbook as she exited her sister’s car on Bayview Avenue.

She had already told two of the grandchildren that she wouldn’t be able to buy Christmas presents this year. She called Miglio to express her gratitude, and now wants to meet Miglio and give her a reward.

“She said thank-you about a thousand times,” Miglio said.

AP-ES-12-18-05 1215EST