The Swellesley Report

 
When Wellesley’s Frances Antonelli earlier this month lost her cellphone after making the rounds at the Recycling & Disposal Facility’s trash, recycling and reusables areas, she turned to technology and a bunch of helpful people in an attempt to find it.

Initially she tried to ping the phone from her smart watch, but it wasn’t brainy enough.

An RDF volunteer named Lorretta then tried to call the phone, but again, no luck.

Another person in the area the area offered to help using iTunes, but Antonelli didn’t recall her password.

She then visited the police station and Officer Eric Ferrara called her phone. He seemed pretty sure that the device was not shut off since it was still ringing, so he recommended that Antonelli head back to the RDF, which she did the next day, armed with a tracking app.

The phone appeared to be located somewhere in paper recycling, much of which had already been baled into bundles from the day before.

“It must have fallen out of my pocket into a bag of recycled paper—but which one of four types? And was it already baled or in the loose paper?” Frances Antonelli wondered.

An RDF employee named Jim first assisted by removing bales of paper from the area one by one to test each of them for the phone. His colleagues Tyler and Nick joined the team, which discovered the phone wasn’t in any of the bales, as the pinging didn’t move when the bales did.

They could call the phone, but its ring was muffled, presumably from being under a pile.

“Then came stage two — Jim got out rakes for raking through the unbaled paper,” Antonelli said. “We made many calls to the phone, and much paper was moved out of the way. Finally we heard it ring!”

After more frantic digging, Jim found the phone.

“Years of photos were saved! All of my notes and apps and stored contacts were once again in my hands,” a relieved Antonelli said.

This resident’s experience wasn’t unique in that the RDF runs into lost item searches at least weekly, according to RDF Superintendent James Manzolini. “Our success rate of finding the lost item really depends on what it was/how much effort the resident wanted to put into finding it/and WHEN it was lost,” he says.

Antonelli shared thanks with the RDF employees, the volunteer, and the police officer for their patience and kindness.

As she said when sharing this tale with us, “I have a happy story” for you.
 

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