Tommy O’Connor from Fremont, California was walking to 7-Eleven to buy a soda, due to lack of funds for a proper lunch. At some point throughout the duration of his walk, he noticed a wallet containing a large wad of cash which amounted to $2,300.00.
Rather than pocketing the money, O’Connor ran the wallet back to his school and handed it over to a teacher’s assistant to be returned to its original owner. He said that he didn’t even count the money when he first picked up the wallet.
The teacher’s assistant, Anna Gomez, said that Tommy never considered doing anything but the right thing.
“He was so concerned about finding the wallet’s owner,” Gomez told the Mercury News. “No other option even occurred to him. He immediately knew what he had to do.”
Gomez and O’Connor went to the school’s principal for help finding the wallet’s owner. In the wallet, they found the owner’s Veterans ID card, which had his name. After they delivered the wallet, the veteran confirmed that the cash was in fact for his rent.
Tommy’s actions are especially notable considering his family lives on a fixed income and he didn’t have lunch money of his own the day before finding the wallet.
“With us living month-to-month, it is a big chunk of money and I’m so proud of him that he did that,” Tommy’s father, Ron O’Connor, told KPIX.
When his mother heard what he had done, she sent him a heartfelt text.
“I’m very proud of you son,” O’Connor’s mother texted him. “Ms. Kalra called me. Wow your one in a million. Love you to the moon and back.”
O’Connor replied: “You should be thanking yourself … You raised me.”
“It’s just doing something I wish everyone else would do,” Tommy told KPIX.
“I’m just proud that he did the right thing, and hopefully all of my children would’ve done the same thing,” Ron O’Connor said.
O’Connor received a $50 reward for returning the wallet.
Sources: Newsiosity, KPIX, Mercury News / Photo Credit: KPIX