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."
Good point - a couple of months ago, I found a brand-new Dell laptop that somebody had left behind at the lcal Fedex-Kinko’s. I took it to the front desk but never thought to follow up.
wait a second..didn’t you take the time after finding that out to report the woman who took it? Someone stole it and you were a witness.
I looked up the address to the school:
PS 198
4205 Farragut Road
Brooklyn, NY 11210
I think I will send him a $5 money order. Its not alot but I will send it with a card to tell him how much I admire his honesty.
If you leave just your phone number the person behind the desk isn’t tempted to pocket the item. Not a perfect solution but better than leaving the item.
BTW have you tried to call the police lately? Calling them to inform them that you found a wallet or jewelry is not going to make them happy.
Kids like this are our hope for the future. Bravo for him!!
The little boy understands the golden rule.
It’s only fitting that O’s picture is moved to make room for a picture of the student.
....CORRECTION.......CORRECTION......CORRECTION
The actual address to the school is:
Public School 198
4105 Farragut Road
Brooklyn, NY 11210
Sorry for my previous typo.
I did report that the jewelry had been turned in. That is why their security department wanted to know the time and the date. I was able to tell them the time, give-or-take 5 minutes. I gave them a description of the woman, plus they have security cameras on the front desk to verify. I am assuming she was fired but have no way of knowing that.
I would have just left it. You were putting your family in serious jeapordy had your timing been bad.
I guess it would depend on the location, but I would think police in area containing a Ritz-Carlton would be pretty responsive to calls from the hotel. In some random highway motel, it would probably be hard to get much police attention. I’d just prefer not to walk away with them item myself, and suspect that most hotels’ policy would be to ask someone reporting a found valuable to turn it in to hotel staff, and to summon law enforcement if the finder declined.
You send it to me and I’ll be sure he gets it. And don’t be stingy!
Obviously my preference - at that time - was to give the jewelry to the front desk. I feel terrible that the rightful owner never got the jewelry and feel worse that the rightful owner figured people are not honest.
Somewhat tangential but...In front of that same Ritz Carlton I found a roll of film. No one advertised that it was lost and I wasn’t sure what to do with it. My friend owned a company and he gave it to an intern to have it developed. OMG!!!! It was pictures of 7 or 8 very handsome guys doing *everything* on the front end and hood of a jeep. When my friend came into work the pictures were projected up on a wall and everyone in the company teased him that these were his friends. LOL
Thanks! I plan to send along a little something.
I would love to think this kid would get enough money to launch his college tuition fund or whatever he plans to do with his future!
...use the 4105 address .......
Oh, ok...I figured you must have done something!
Also followed up with a letter and multiple phone calls to the Ritz Carleton headquarters in Georgia. They were not forthcoming about the entire issue. Covering their behinds.
He looks in it, says to himself, "She looks familiar," and grabs her number out of the phone book. She gets a call, and goes to pick it up, every single dime is intact. And he wouldn't take $20 from her, even to pass on to his employee.
I know where I'm buying all my deli sandwiches for the rest of my time here!
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