Good Samaritans recover items stolen from students visiting Stanford
By Lauren Toms
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SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — International students who recently visited Stanford University are breathing a sigh of relief. After their passports and other important belongings were stolen, a group of Good Samaritans in San Francisco found the items and returned them to their rightful owners.
It was an ordinary morning for Nick Rosener as he made his way to work at a nonprofit that supports youth with mental health needs. But as he passed a pile of what appeared to be ordinary rubbish on the sidewalk, something compelled him to stop.
“Actually, right over here, I saw a big pile of debris and trash and stuff,” Rosner told CBS News Bay Area. “But as I looked at it, I kind of noticed, like luggage and then some passports. Was like, ‘oh, shoot, this might be a dump spot for a break-in.'”
Rosener’s instincts were right. Just the night before, a group of students visiting Stanford from around the globe had parked in downtown Palo Alto to grab dinner. When they returned to their cars, they discovered a string of break-ins had occurred. Palo Alto police confirmed that at least a dozen vehicles were targeted that night.
The students lost nearly everything: passports, laptops, clothing, even immigration documents. But one group would be luckier than the rest to have Rosener’s kind thinking.
Back in San Francisco, he and his coworkers sprang into action. One of the first clues was a flash drive containing photos, which they used to track someone down on LinkedIn.
“And we’re like, oh, I bet they work at that place. Where’s the person work?” Rosener explained.
Some asked about belongings that were not recovered as one student hoped to reunite with a sweater. “No, it’s not there,” Rosener told a student. “So, this is pretty sad, but I think that a lot of the people’s main reactions were that they were just happy they can get anything back. And that kind of made it like, seem very worth it to do it, even if it doesn’t seem worth it, because just getting like, that one thing back really made them happy,” he said.
What followed was a hands-on recovery operation. Rosner and the nonprofit team at Occupational Therapy Training Program – SF combed through the soaked and scattered items, carefully drying rained-on items, and organizing them. With the support of their clinical director, Marion Wise, they managed to return passports and other critical belongings to people across the United States — and as far away as Canada, Brazil, Germany, and India.
“Working in a nonprofit where we serve kids with mental health issues, and being in this moment in the world too, there’s so much where change is so small and progress is so small,” Wise said. “And so it just is really cool to see the way our colleagues and teams step up to help out and to have an opportunity to be like, oh, wow, we’ve made an immediate difference.”
Down at Stanford, word of the recovery effort reached Sravanthi Penumarthy, who quickly offered to help, including making a trip to the post office to ensure returned items got where they needed to go.
“It was serendipitous that the bag got dropped outside of that nonprofit,” Penumarthy said. “We have a lot to complain about, but we also have a lot to be grateful for, so if there’s a chance to help, why not?”
In the days that followed, the nonprofit began receiving unexpected donations from the grateful students. For Rosner, it was a reminder that even small acts can make a difference.
“If we help someone — or a bunch of people — with a little bit of stuff, and it made it better, and it cascaded into better things, like, that’s great,” said Rosener.
What began as a morning like any other turned into a moment of kindness that sent ripples of gratitude around the world.
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