Richard Taverna from New York discovered the woman's purse on a subway platform in December, and turned the money over to police.
Investigators then linked the money to the woman who reported it lost a day earlier.
She says she left the bag while in a rush to make her flight back home to Kazakhstan.
"It pretty much wasn't mine, and I knew somebody was in a pretty bad shape at that point," Taverna told WCBS. "It was never any question about turning it in."
Taverna was awarded a golden statue of a soldier, which symbolizes strength and honor in Kazakhstan.
As for all of the money, the woman says it was meant to buy her children's Christmas presents.