Mom Avolyn Jones, 40, who works in payroll at the health care union 1199 SEIU, said she was pretty happy with her kid, too.
Posted on 01/28/2009 7:49:21 AM PST by RogerWilko
Meet the most honest little kid in New York City: Brooklyn's own Kemoy Gourzang.
The fifth-grader was walking through East Flatbush on the way to school Friday morning when he found a brown leather wallet on the sidewalk.
It was stuffed. There was at least $500 cash in there.
Kemoy knew what to do. He made a beeline for the school principal's office and turned in his newfound treasure.
"Five kids told me, 'You should have kept it,'" said Kemoy, who is 10.
"I said, 'No, because if it was yours, you would have wanted it back.'"
Joy-Ann Morgan, principal of Public School 198 in East Flatbush, fished a business card out of the wallet and called the owner, who hadn't even noticed the loss yet.
The wallet's owner, who didn't want to be identified, rushed to the school to claim his dough and meet the boy who got it back to him.
"He told me I was a kind person," Kemoy recounted. "He told me it was honest to bring the wallet to school."
Then he gave Kemoy $100 to say thanks.
The boy confessed he had been hoping for some reward, but was surprised it was so generous.
"I was pretty excited," he said. "I went straight to Toys 'R' Us."
Kemoy spent half the reward money on a video racing game called Midnight Club 3 and a starter kit for a Nintendo Wii.
At school, the proud principal decided to make an example of Kemoy.
"This is what we try to teach," she said. "I got on the PA and announced that we had a hero in school."
She snapped some pictures of the boy and intends to put them on the bulletin board outside the office to honor him.
She's going to move down some pictures of President Obama so Kemoy can have the best spot on the board.
Mom Avolyn Jones, 40, who works in payroll at the health care union 1199 SEIU, said she was pretty happy with her kid, too.
"I'm proud. I always told him, 'Honesty is the best policy,'" she said.
The wallet's owner should be grateful, she said.
"I'm glad Kemoy found it because maybe if someone else found it, it would not be returned," she said.
"There are not a lot of honest people in these times."
So what about the remaining 50 bucks?
"I'll probably save it for Valentine's Day," the boy said.
"I'm going to buy a Teddy bear with angel wings, milk chocolate and maybe a necklace.
"For my mom."
I think it's great that the kid actually gave the wallet back to the owner... But, to think that it's become such a rare event that you make national news by being HONEST seems nuts!
My parents taught me and my siblings to always be honest. Whenever we brought anything home, they would tell us... "No matter where you found it, it belongs to someone and wouldn't you want it returned to you if you lost it?"
Even if we didn't know who it belonged to, they would make us return it to where we found it.
I guess it must be a news story, because most of society thinks like the other five kids.
I’d like to send this kid a few bucks for practicing honesty and integrity.
This is NYC. I’m pleasantly surprised that the school principal didn’t keep it for herself.
The kid needs to get some type of reward for his actions!
LOL!
obama's gonna get the money one way or another, kid.
LOL - was thinking the same thing, if Bloomberg doesn’t beat him to it!
Treat others as you would have them treat you. ... Simple yet difficult to put into practice. Good for this kid.
Kudos to this kid. It’s funny how the only faith we can have today is in little kids.
Chaaaange has come!!!!
A few years ago I found a velvet bag filled with some very beautiful and very expensive jewelry at the Ritz Carlton in Boston and took it immediately to the front desk. Two days later I called to see if it was claimed and they had no record of it being turned in. Their security department later called me to determine the exact time and date I turned it in. The gal at the front desk must have pocketed it.
Next time, I'll know better and will leave my telephone number. That way I'll be sure the rightful owner gets their jewelry back.
I told him to not say a word to anyone about anything. When we arrived back to our table he was quiet for about 15 seconds but My wife (mom) knew something was up. Finally he said, “ A funny thing happened in the bathroom”. Mom told him, "We don’t discuss bathroom topics at the dinner table."; to which I heartily agreed! She gave me a very strange look so I whispered to her to hold her hand under the table. I placed the entire wad of cash in her open hand. The look on her face was priceless.
We finished dinner quickly and left.
Clearly this was drug or extortion money intended for nothing good. When we finally counted it, there was $745 total. It’s now in Nate’s college account and I feel NO remorse for not turning it in to anyone.
I'm glad there's still some honest people left out there. Most people have the "finders keepers, losers weepers" mentality!
Whenever a clerk makes a mistake at a store in my favor, and I bring it to their attention, they always seemed surprised! Honesty seems like a rare commodity nowadays.
That's probably what brought about our current economic situation. It ALL comes down to honesty! If everyone, everywhere would have been honest about their financial obligations, abilities, and responsibilities... We wouldn't be in the mess we're in right now!
Thanks a lot all of you greedy, irresponsible losers (Washington DC included!) who have TOTALLY botched up our country!
What a great kid - and a beautiful smile, too. It would be nice to think that a solid future is coming his way.
In your situation, I’d probably do the same thing. I don’t think the money accidentally fell into that roll, and I don’t think I’d want to try to contact the owner either.
They probably would’ve told you that there was $2000 and would want the rest!
I don’t know how leaving your phone number would help. Just call police while you’re at the desk turning the valuables in, so that THEY know who turned what in, where, when, and to whom.
Wow, I’m sure it is easy to find the address to his school or his mother’s employment with the information from the article. Good idea. Don’t send cash though, maybe a money order with both their names on it.
My wife did the same thing with an I-Pod she found in the gym. I told her that the one of kids running the check-in counter probably took it home with them.
I found a wallet in a parking lot filled with credit cards, IDs, and such, but no money. I found the guy’s number and got it back to him. He told me that he had about $300 in there. He was going to give me $100, but I told him to keep it, especially since he was already $300 in the hole.
I almost felt like he thought I that took the cash, but if I declined his $100, I’d hope he’d have figured out I didn’t take it!
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