Boy Scout finds bag containing $4,500 in cash, does what Boy Scouts do

cvs-cashWhat would you do if you found a bag with $4,500 inside?

Caribbean vacation, maybe? Shopping spree at Best Buy?

For 15-year-old Boy Scout James Villeneuve from Latham, N.Y., there was never any question about the answer.

As reported by WNYT-TV, James spotted a money bag while strolling with his family through a park in Albany, N.Y.

Inside was four-and-a-half grand in American money. That’s enough to buy a decade’s worth of videogames, movie tickets, comic books or anything else a typical teenage boy might spend his money on.

But James is no typical teen.

It turns out the bag belonged to a CVS nearby; the cash was on its way to the local bank.

James, who learned to be trustworthy as a Boy Scout, returned the money right away. The CVS manager met him outside — “sweating profusely,” James said — and thanked him for returning the cash.

The manager gave James a $20 gift card as a thanks, and CVS’ national public relations director told WNYT that the company plans to do even more for James.

“Our local team is in the process of trying to contact the boy,” CVS Public Relations Director Mike DeAngelis said. “We want to appropriately recognize him and his honesty, and express our gratitude by rewarding him with more.”

But the story gets better. 

Find My iPhone

Thirty minutes before finding and returning the money bag, James found an abandoned iPhone in the park.

He tracked down that owner, too, and the iPhone owner offered James $100 as a reward. James refused.

“That’s what a Boy Scout does,” James told the TV station. “We do favors and if we find something [we return it] without a reward.”

James, you rock.


Photo from Flickr:  Some rights reserved by 401(K) 2013


About Bryan Wendell 3282 Articles
Bryan Wendell, an Eagle Scout, is the founder of Bryan on Scouting and a contributing writer.