It was just like any other Tuesday for Tommy O’Connor of Fremont, California. But when he walked across the street to buy a soda from his local convenience store, his day took a peculiar twist.
When Tommy, a senior at Irvington High School, looked down, he noticed a wallet fattened with a stack of one hundred dollar bills. But he didn’t count the money or ransack the owner’s belongings, instead he found the nearest teacher’s aide and reported the wallet lost. It turned out that the money inside amounted to $2,300 dollars, and its owner, who the teacher’s aide was able to contact shortly after, was a veteran.
Tommy’s parents were proud of their son’s good deed, his dad saying, “I’m just proud that he did the right thing, and hopefully all of my children would have done the same thing.”
When Tommy’s mother heard the news, she sent her son this text message, “I’m very proud of you son. Ms. Kalra called me. Wow, you’re one in a million. I love you to the moon and back.” To which her son responded with a touching, “you should be thanking yourself, you raised me.”
The story becomes even more heartwarming when you learn that Tommy’s family lives on a strict fixed income, so much so that Tommy didn’t have enough money to cover his school lunch the day before.
Tommy was awarded $50 for returning the wallet.