State Treasurer Hails 94 Year-Old Helen Little’s Efforts At Check Presentation
RALEIGH – “We weren’t meant to take an easy life. We are supposed to serve our fellow man,” said self-described farm girl turned data processor Helen Little of Clayton, a nonagenarian who has worked unceasingly to improve the lives of less-fortunate people in earthquake-prone, strife-torn Haiti. On Wednesday, Dec. 18, State Treasurer Dale R. Folwell, CPA, helped to ease Little’s burden when he reunited her with missing money that she plans to plow right back into the Helen Little Haiti Foundation.
“It’s wonderful. It’s helping another child to go to school, and that’s what’s important. It will help educate children that don’t have a hope. When people can’t feed their children even one meal a day sometimes, schooling is out of the question,” Little said of conditions on the impoverished Caribbean-island nation.
“Miss Little is an absolute dynamo whose big heart for the downtrodden is matched by her boundless energy and ability to get mighty things done on a small budget,” Treasurer Folwell said after presenting her with a check for $2,643.59. “This will be the last time I have a check presentation to return unclaimed cash held by the Department of State Treasurer (DST) to the rightful owner. There have been few times that transaction has been as rewarding for me as this payback. Miss Little demonstrates through her time and talents, and, now, her treasure, what is best about North Carolinians.” Treasurer Folwell will leave office Dec. 31 at the end of his current second term.
Money that has become undeliverable for a variety of reasons is safeguarded at the Unclaimed Property Division (UPD) of DST until the rightful owners claim it. During a review of data in UPD, commonly called NCCash.com, DST staff identified $2,643.59 from a PayPal refund that was deemed undeliverable and was routed to DST. The money was intended for the Ryan Epps Home for Children. As former director for that now closed orphanage, Miss Little was in line to receive the money on behalf of the defunct organization.
“I didn’t know that anybody was donating through PayPal,” Little said, calling the unexpected windfall “a miracle.”
Meanwhile, she will continue filling a 40-foot container on her Clayton property with goods she plans to send to Haiti once the gang violence gripping the country is brought under control. “One day the gangs won’t be there, and the people who have an education will be ready to be in leadership in that country,” she said. The Helen Little Haiti Foundation provides money for children to get a secondary, university or nursing education.
Little, an NC State University retired data processor, just turned 94, but she plans to return to Haiti when the violence is quelled. She has visited Haiti 81 times, saying she felt a calling to do something for the people on her very first visit. She also has traveled to Russia and Sri Lanka twice each, Ecuador, Armenia and Cuba once each.
Under state law, NCCash.com is currently safeguarding nearly $1.3 billion in funds that are escheated, or turned over, to DST. The money is awaiting return to the rightful owners after being lost, misdirected or overlooked. It represents 22.1 million properties statewide, and more than 25 million owners are associated with those properties.
During his eight years in office, Treasurer Folwell has put more than $610 million of misdirected money back into the pockets of those who were entitled to it.
“Deputy Treasurer Allen Martin does a remarkable job supervising UPD. He and his staff are the true experts when it comes to reuniting people with their money each and every day,” Treasurer Folwell said.
For the fiscal year 2023-24 that ended on June 30, UPD paid 145,032 claims totaling $115,063,782. The total payout surpassed the previous record of $108,586,650 set during the 2022-23 fiscal year. Another record was set for receipts in the NCCash program — $332,046,806 in 2023-24, compared to $300,095,512 the previous year.
Unclaimed assets consist of bank accounts, wages, utility deposits, insurance policy proceeds, stocks, bonds and contents of safe deposit boxes that have been abandoned.
