NEED TO KNOW
- Alexis Moriarty was driving through Comfort, Texas, when something beneath a bridge caught her eye — a stuffed lamb lying alone in the mud
- She and her family pulled over and began searching through debris from a home washed away by the recent Texas floods
- She immediately asked her parents if they could take it home and they agreed. Since then, she’s been determined to find its owner
As Alexis Moriarty drove through Comfort, Texas, something beneath a bridge caught her eye. She and her family pulled over, grabbed a bamboo stick — likely debris from a wrecked home washed away by the recent Texas floods — and began gently prodding through the branches and brush.
That’s when she saw it: a stuffed lamb lying alone in the mud.
“It wasn’t buried or torn, it was just sitting there, perfectly intact, as if it had been waiting to be found,” the 17-year-old high school student from Texas tells PEOPLE exclusively.
“I immediately thought about the child who must’ve lost it. It hit me hard,” she adds. “I imagined how much comfort it might’ve brought them, especially during something as scary as a flood. If I were that kid, I’d want someone to bring it back to me. It reminded me of the stuffed animals I had growing up — those things we hold on to when everything else feels out of control.”
Moriarty knew she couldn’t leave the stuffed animal behind. Right away, she asked her parents if they could take it home — and they agreed.
“My mom helped me understand that for a parent who’s lost everything, something like a child’s stuffed animal could mean the world,” she says. “That really stayed with me.”
Once home, Moriarty decided to clean it up.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t moldy or torn, just muddy and soaking wet. When they found it, it was gray and dark from the floodwaters, and they had no idea what color it actually was. After washing it, the stuffed animal looked nearly perfect: a white, gray and ivy-striped lamb with a peaceful expression — clean, soft and whole.
“You’d never guess what it had just been through,” she says.
Even after cleaning it, Moriarty couldn’t shake the feeling that someone out there was missing it. Determined to find the rightful owner, she — with support from her family — posted about the lamb on TikTok.
“please help us find the home for this little stuffed lamb it belongs to a sweet loving child and family out there who were affected by the flood waters we took it home and cleaned it hoping to return it to its owners,” the high schooler captioned the post.
“I posted it because I felt like someone out there might recognize it,” she tells PEOPLE. “Whether it found its original owner or just gave people a sense of hope, I wanted to share the story. I think we’re all looking for light in the middle of hard times.”
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Since posting, Moriarty’s video has reached over 175,000 people.
She says the responses have been incredibly moving. People have shared stories about items they lost in disasters, especially sentimental things from their childhood. Some said it gave them hope that kindness still exists in the world, which meant a lot to the high schooler.
But so far, they haven’t been able to find the original owner.
“I’m still hopeful. I’m sharing it wherever I can. If it reaches the right family, that would mean everything,” she says.
“If no one claims it, I’d love to donate it to a memorial that honors the flood, or I’ll keep it safe with my stuffies and love it until hopefully the owner one day comes along,” she adds. “It doesn’t feel right to throw it away. It means something.”
Moriarty also shares that while her family wasn’t directly impacted by the floods, they have deep ties to the area. They’ve spent time in Kerrville and nearby towns, and seeing those places torn apart felt deeply personal.
“Just that my heart is with every family affected by the flood. I may not know their names or stories, but I’m thinking of them, and I’ll keep doing whatever I can to help,” she says.
“I hope people realize that even small acts of kindness matter. That paying attention, caring and honoring others’ losses can ripple out in powerful ways,” she continues. “I always say, ‘No good deed goes unpunished’ and ‘Treat others how you would want to be treated,’ and if that was me, I’d want someone to treat and love my stuffy as if it was their own until I could get it back from them, because of how important they are to me.”
To learn how to help support the victims and recovery efforts from the Texas floods, click here.
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