Michigan mailman finds $10 in driveway, leaves it in homeowner’s mailbox with a sweet handwritten note

What would you do if you randomly found some cash while walking around? For one Michigan mailman, the answer was surprisingly simple, and his act ended up inspiring an entire neighborhood. Joshua O’Hara was making his usual rounds in St. Clair Shores when he spotted a $10 bill lying in a driveway. Not wanting it to get lost, he walked up to the door and rang the bell. When no one answered, he tucked the cash into the mailbox along with a handwritten note that simply said, "Found on your driveway."

Later that day, homeowner Sara Haiduc came home from work and discovered the unexpected delivery waiting for her. She posted a photo of the bill and the note on Facebook, writing, "I want to say thank you to the amazing mailman today who found $10.00 in my driveway, and left it in my mailbox for me!!" She added a picture of the bill and note with the caption, "My mailman/woman is the sweetest!" and a heart emoji. O’Hara later told ABC affiliate WXYZ how he found the dollar bill, "The way it was positioned, it looked like it fell out of their pocket when getting into the car. Because nobody came, I left a note just so it wouldn’t fall to the bottom of the mailbox and nobody would see it." 

For Haiduc, when she got home and found the money and note waiting for her, she was touched by the gesture. "Honestly, I was just like, 'That was like the sweetest thing,'" she said. "Instead of just pocketing it, he left it for me." What could have been a simple moment between two people quickly grew into something bigger. Haiduc said the unexpected kindness not only brightened her day, but it also inspired her to do more. "(The money) just magically ended up in my driveway, and he happened to find it, and he did his good deed by giving it to me. So that's why I feel like I need to do a good deed with it," she said.

Along with Haiduc, others in the neighborhood were also inspired by O’Hara’s action, and said they wanted to start paying small kindnesses forward, too. Even O’Hara himself commented later, writing, "Being kind to others doesn't cost a thing. You never know who needs it, and one good deed can have a ripple effect," reported People. O’Hara, who has been serving at the U.S. Postal Service for about 10 years, said it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for him. Returning the money felt like the obvious choice, which, turns out, is the case for most people. A global study published in Science found that people are actually more likely to return lost wallets when they contain money.

When wallets held nearly $100, return rates rose to 72%, compared to 46% for wallets with no cash. The study concluded that protecting your own sense of honesty often matters more than personal gain. O’Hara also told WXYZ, "If you can make somebody smile, or you can help somebody in any way, even just be a support to be there for them, do it. You got a neighbor who's grieving? Drop off leftover food. Buy food for someone next to you in a restaurant. Compliment your cashier. You make one person smile, and then that spreads to another, and then it’s just a ripple effect."