Ryan Kruger
•7/9/2026
CAPE CORAL, Fla. (WINK)—A local woman who found photo albums in a dumpster after Hurricane Charley has been reunited with one of the people pictured inside, thanks to WINK News viewers.
Olympia Lynch and Anne Sheridan met for the first time and immediately hit it off.
Sheridan is the little girl featured in a green photo album Lynch discovered at a garage sale in March.
The woman who sold the albums to Lynch said she found them in a dumpster on Sanibel shortly after Hurricane Charley hit Southwest Florida in 2004.
Lynch brought the albums to a recent WINK Listens event, hoping WINK News could help find the owners.
"I said this is so sentimental. I knew whoever this was, their kids needed to see them," Lynch said.
When Sheridan opened the albums, she immediately recognized the faces inside.
"This is my mother and father!” Sheridan said. “This is my mother's wedding album."
Sheridan said she can't wait to show the photos to her daughter and new granddaughter in Gainesville.
Looking through the album brought back memories of living in New York.
"Going through these I recognize many of them. My godmother and me. My mother and me in Central Park," Sheridan said.
Sheridan said she and her parents moved to Cape Coral in the 1970s. Her mother passed away before Hurricane Charley, and it's not clear how the albums ended up in Sanibel.
"When they weren't around, I just figured my mother did something with them," Sheridan said.
WINK News reunited Sheridan with her baby photo album, along with her parents' and her brother's wedding albums.
The family milestones were returned to their rightful owners.
"I was like, 'this is a trove of treasure,’” Lynch said.
“Her junk became my treasure," said Sheridan.
WINK News will continue searching for the owners of other photo albums found by Lynch.
"Everybody should pay attention to WINK Listens and bring your stories because they're more than willing to help us," Lynch said.
