West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore, right, shakes hands with Douglass Harrison, left, president and CEO of WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital. after presenting him a check from his office’s unclaimed funds account. The $84,097 received will be put toward the build out of the future pediatrics center at the hospital.

WHEELING — Some newfound money at WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital will go toward the build out of the new pediatrics clinic being constructed there.

West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore came to Wheeling Thursday with a check to the hospital for $84,097. The money was due the hospital from his office’s unclaimed property fund, he explained.

Moore also presented a similar check for $84,953 to the hospital in June.

WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital is in the process of converting the former Continuous Care Center building on its campus into an outpatient pediatrics clinic.

The project is expected to cost $10 million, with the hospital seeking to raise half the amount or $5 million of the cost, according to Douglass Harrison, president and CEO of WVU Medicine Wheeling and Reynolds Memorial hospitals.

“We are going to put (the money received Thursday) into a fund to support our new pediatric center,” he said. “We’re excited. We always like to find free money.

“We’re very appreciative to Riley and his team for doing this. The transparency of the government is very refreshing. To reach out and offer this back to us is wonderful. We greatly appreciate the support.”

Moore said his office presently has about $400 million in its unclaimed property fund. Last year, about $26 million of the money was returned to its rightful owners.

He explained the money due WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital was from “miscellaneous checks” never cashed that were intended for the hospital. Many of these were from estates or insurance policies in the past, and the bills they were to pay have since been written off the hospital’s books.

“It’s not just one thing, but a lot of things that added up,” he continued.

Moore has been delivering the checks to various entities throughout West Virginia during his term, including hospitals.

“These medical facilities provide an important service to our communities, and we’re doing our best to make sure these funds are getting back to their rightful owners,” he said.

“This is something we’ve been trying to stay on top of because all the hospitals in West Virginia do so many transactions that we do end up with a lot of unclaimed property for them…. These are such critical services they provide. We want to make sure they have all the funds necessary to do their jobs.”

Moore wants the public to know all are welcome to search the unclaimed funds database at WVTreasury.com.

“We have $400 million in unclaimed property in West Virginia … the odds are you may have some out there, or if you don’t you’re the next of kin of somebody who had some.

“Please take a look at it. Help your parents and grandparents if they need help looking online.”

Not everybody believes the State Treasurer’s Office when they see they have unclaimed property, and especially don’t like providing the necessary personal information to make the claim, he acknowledged.

“We do have a system where we keep the information confidential, and it is never used in a nefarious way,” Moore said.

Last year, his office sent out $4 million in checks to recipients they were certain had unclaimed property through its “Cash Now” program. Even so, some of those checks went unclaimed, were returned to his office, and are now unclaimed again.