An 8-year-old boy has earned $100 for his goodwill and honesty after finding a wallet containing $1700.
Frankie Burns from Washingtonville, New York was gearing up for a Gaelic playoffs game with his teammates when he found the wallet in front of a house near Paddy’s Field in the Bronx.
“I see a wallet and I gave it to my dad, and he opened it to see like whose it was, and he just sees like a lot of hundred-dollar bills,” 8-year-old Frankie told CBS New York. The wallet contained 17 $100 bills to be exact.
When asked by CBS 2 News reporter Brian Conybeare if he ever thought about keeping the money Frankie replied “No. Because I didn’t earn the money, the other guy did for working.”
So while Frankie was playing his football game, his father, Frank Burns went through the wallet and managed to find the owner using a dental identity card he found inside.
Frank and Frankie Burns Image (Blaise Gomez Facebook)
As it turned out, Patrick Carroll who owned the wallet was the victim of a mugging in the area the previous week and had lost it in the struggle with his attacker. He had just got out of hospital after 5 days where he received stitches from the back of his neck up to his head after being hit with a baseball bat during the attack.
Carroll lived in the area and was able to meet with Frankie and Frank during halftime in the game. The fourth-grader’s honesty and need to return the wallet to its rightful owner was a gesture much appreciated by Patrick Carroll.
Carroll told the Burns’ that the money was to pay his rent and because he had lost his wallet he had to borrow money from his brother and friend to pay it while in the hospital. He was very grateful to be able to pay them back thanks to Frankie.
As a gesture of thanks from himself, Frankie said that Patrick told him he wanted to give him something and “just pulled out $100 dollars.” Frankie told Brian Conybeare that he was going to use the money to buy himself a new pair of soccer cleats.
Frankie speaking to CBS 2 News. (Image St Brendan’s GAA Club Facebook)
Frankie’s motto is “Do the right thing,” and he certainly did. This heartwarming story helps restore our faith in humanity and proves that there are still some good people in the world. Frankie Burns is one of those people.
After all they do say ‘No legacy is so rich as honesty’ and it proves that it pays to do the right thing.
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