TORONTO — Last month, Sharon Rubinstein received a call telling her that her wallet had been found at the Lipa Green Building.

Sharon Rubinstein found her wallet almost 17 years after it was stolen.

She said she checked her purse and found it there, as usual. She asked the security guard if he was sure the wallet he had was hers, and he read out her name, address and emergency contact, all of which were correct.

“I thought it was a hoax,” she said. “If he would have said, ‘Come and meet me at the corner,’ I never would have gone.”

But it was at the Lipa Green Building, so she recruited a friend to go with her, and sure enough, it was her wallet they had found – one she lost almost 17 years ago.

“All of a sudden, a flood comes back to me of memories,” she said, “and it hits me. Oh my God, this is my wallet.”

She said she opened it up and saw a photograph of her and her brother from when they lived in Winnipeg, a picture of her kids and her old Visa card. All her other photos and identification were there, too. Only the cash was missing. After all these years, she couldn’t recall how much, but it wouldn’t have been a lot.

She did recall the circumstances, however.

Almost 17 years ago, Rubinstein was working as a babysitting supervisor for what was then known as the Bathurst Jewish Community Centre.

There was a group of people working in the office, she explained. “We went for coffee, and when we came back, our wallets had been taken from our purses.”

Now, as she and her friend were returning home, old wallet in hand, they tried to figure out how it could have reached the Lipa Green Building to be found so many years later.

The entire site of the old BJCC is being redeveloped, and all of the original buildings are in the process of being torn down.

Rubinstein’s friend told her that the scene reminded her of an Italian earthquake in which people found long lost belongings, she said.

“The only thing we concluded was that whoever took my wallet probably tossed it, and 17 years later I found it,” she said, laughing. “Isn’t that something?”

She described feeling thrilled to have found it, particularly the photos inside, one of which was a group photo of her on a staff mission to Israel, standing in front of Masada.

She has tried calling the other people who lost their wallet in the same incident, but hasn’t been able to reach anybody, she said.

She’s hoping the lost long wallet will bring more good luck, she said. “I bought a lottery ticket, put it in my wallet and put it under my pillow."