Heart of South Florida: Precious ring restores 'faith in humanity'

After losing wedding band, Amber Pallares shares her hopeful story

"Just say that you were twirling your finger and it fell off."

That was the advice some of Amber Pallares' friends were giving her in the days after her gold wedding band disappeared. It wasn't her only band, but as a gift from her mother, it's sentimental value far outweighed it's price tag.

How it was lost was less notable than how it landed back on her ring finger.

On Feb. 9, Pallares went to a Miami Heat game with some friends. The Heat beat the Knicks that night, but at some point during the game, her small wedding band was lost.

By the time she got home and realized it was gone, she thought it was lost forever.

"You're never going to get it back" said Pallares. "It's such a huge arena. I (knew I) definitely would never see the ring again. Much less someone find it."

The ring was found more than a month later by Janny Morales' father. He's an electrician for the Heat, and he picked it up while walking through the arena on April 9.

Morales brought it home, and showed it to his daughter. Janny looked it over, and noticed it was engraved.

"(I) looked at it, it had said Amber and Ferni, and had a wedding date. Turned out to be my husband's birthday," Janny Morales said. "I had (the) idea to put it on Facebook, I figured somebody would want it back."

The post said, "Please share! Wedding band found at the AmericanAirlines Arena. Engraving reads 'Amber & Ferni,' with a date. Hope to get this to its rightful owner."

The update spread and was shared thousands of times, branching to Instagram and Twitter. Heat owner Mickey Arison sent it to his more than 200,000 followers. It turns out social sleuths can be ringers. Within hours of the post, Janny says Amber had been located.

Amber couldn't believe it. "What? It's been gone since February and we're going into April. I was getting tagged everywhere. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook."

The two women connected, with Janny answering some basic questions about the ring over the phone. On Easter Sunday they met, posting a photo to the very sites that helped arrange the reunion.

Morales? She doesn't see the big fuss in what she says was a small act. "I understand how from her perspective it was a really nice thing to do. From my perspective, it's just the decent thing to do."

For Pallares, it was more than just the return of a ring. It was a restoration of faith in others.

"People think nobody does anything out of the goodness of their heart," Pallares said. "Everybody has something behind it. There are good people around, sometimes you bump into them and you're lucky enough to. In this case I was lucky enough."

Do you know someone who is working to help others, who has changed lives, or has gone above and beyond in a great way? Every Friday we will feature the "Heart of South Florida". Send your nominations to Eric Yutzy at eyutzy@wplg.com