The story of a starving Halifax university student who found and returned $10,000 resonated so much with a national radio personality that he helped raise close to $17,000 for him.
Stuart McLean, the host of CBC Radio's Vinyl Cafe, says he was struck by Jaime Hawkins's actions enough to give him an Arthur, an award to recognize ordinary people for doing small stuff.
"He had come so far as a person," McLean said during a phone interview. "He was a kid who was going nowhere and, as he honestly told me when I asked him, 'Would his former self have returned it?' he said 'Not likely.'"
Hawkins, a fourth-year Saint Mary's University business student, told McLean many people thought he was crazy for turning in a wad of $20 bills he found next to a bank machine last February.
"Clearly this kid had developed a set of ethics which was higher than that," McLean said.
"By him doing what he did, he asked us to allow us to be our best selves too. So when that voice says 'I should keep the money. Everyone's going to think I'm crazy if I give the money back.' We'll just think quietly to ourselves, 'Well, he didn't keep the money.'"
McLean said he thought Hawkins deserved something for the deed and wanted to see if others felt the same.
So he told the student's story at his Christmas concerts and asked people to donate pocket change.
People chipped in more than $15,000. Most gave toonies and loonies. A few wrote cheques for $200, $100 and $5.
Some sent Christmas cards, saying Hawkins's story restored their faith in youth.
Group 4 Securicor, the company that accidentally left the money behind, gave Hawkins a $500 reward. An Ontario woman who saw the original story in The Daily News donated $1,000. Readers chipped in $211.
Overall, people pitched in a whopping $16,711.
Hawkins says it's unbelievable.
"It almost made me cry," he said.
"I always knew what the right thing to do was. But, I mean, this just solidified that.
"It's almost like those types of things are tests. Because the payment for your good actions will probably double than if you'd actually kept the money in the first place."
Since the story first appeared, Hawkins said he's done more than 20 media interviews. His story has popped up in newspapers in the United States, Great Britain, France and the Philippines. The places he used to live have claimed him as their own.
Next month, Hawkins will graduate with a business degree. His windfall is in the bank for now, but he said he plans to invest the sum wisely and use it to pay off his $45,000 student debt.
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