A Winnipeg woman was surprised to find a bag containing $3,000 on the street this week, but the bag's owners were just as surprised when it was brought back to them.

Vicki Nettleton says she was outside her office on Wednesday morning, chatting with a colleague about birthdays, when she noticed something on Meadowood Drive near St. Mary's Road.

"I happened to look over, right over there, and I said, 'There's a money bag,'" she told CBC News on Thursday.

Nettleton said as it turned out, she recognized the names on the documents that came with the cash as a family she had done business with years ago.

The money belonged to Sandy and John Cotie, who own Sandy's Snack Shack in Richer, Man., a community about 60 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg.

Sandy Cotie said she came to Winnipeg on Wednesday to purchase some supplies for the business.

Received call on drive home

It was on the drive home that she received a phone call from Nettleton about the recovered bag of money, which Cotie had assumed was buried under the supplies.

"It wasn't registering with me at first," Cotie said. "Then when she said, 'I found this deposit bag,' and I'm like, 'Oh my God. I did lose that money.'"

Vicki Nettleton says she knew returning the cash to its owners was the right thing to do. (CBC)

Cotie said she is not sure how she lost the deposit bag, but a store she visited on St. Mary's Road is near Nettleton's workplace.

Nettleton drove out to Richer on Wednesday afternoon to reunite the couple with their cash.

Nettleton acknowledged that she had thought for a moment about keeping the money, but she said she knew what she had to do.

"We were actually always brought up that you always do the right thing and it comes back to you," she said.

The Coties have invited Nettleton and her daughter to visit them for lunch and miniature golf.