Marc Yearsley

New York City, U.S.A.

Wallets returned: 8 out of 12. Richard Hamilton, a 36-year-old government worker from Brooklyn, found a wallet near City Hall and reunited it with us. “Everyone says New Yorkers are unfriendly but they’re really quite a nice people,” he said. “I think you’d be very surprised to see how many New Yorkers would actually return [a wallet].” Not all New Yorkers were so honest: we watched a man in his twenties take money from the wallet to buy cigarettes at a convenience store. However, one of two 17-year-olds who found the billfold explained her motivation to get in touch: “I flipped through all the papers and saw the family photo and thought, ‘Aw, he has two kids. We have to give this back.'” Another local told us, “It’s so easy to be cynical. But especially after 9/11, that instilled companionship in everyone.” Learn how in New York City one pair of socks spawned a movement to help the homeless.