Homeless man who found $17,000 stuns his community when he gives it to charity

32-year-old Kevin Booth, a homeless man who lives in Sumner, Washington, turned in a bag full of money to the local charity that has helped him so much in the past, and he has become an example of honesty.

It all started one morning in August, when Booth paid an early visit to the Sumner Food Bank, which was still closed, and noticed a brown bag lying on the floor outside the food bank’s community breadbox, as the Seattle Times reported.

Filled with curiosity, Booth took the bag and reached inside to discover a $20 bill. Without imagining what else was inside the bag, Booth found himself debating between keeping the money and leaving with it.

But Booth decided to listen to his consciousness and waited for a food bank volunteer to arrive and handed the bag to her, shocking everybody when its content was revealed. Read more on our Twitter account @amomama_usa

According to the food bank’s director Anita Miller, the volunteer assumed that the bag was filled with food to donate, so she was getting ready to weigh it, only to find out that there was $17,000 in cash inside.

The workers of the food bank didn’t know what to make of it, and they called the police, who confirmed the money was real but even though they checked the security cameras they couldn’t identify the person who dropped it there.

But what the security cameras did show was Booth picking the bag up from the floor, completely unaware of what he had in his hands.

“I got stopped later by (officers) and they told me what was in there and I just about fainted. I’ve never touched that much money and I don’t think I ever will again.”

-Kevin Booth, the Seattle Times, December 3, 2018.

The money was kept by the authorities for 90 days, as regular procedure stipulates, but since nobody made a claim of ownership for the cash, the money went to the food bank, and they know exactly what to do with it.

The food bank will destine the money to expand its building, where it serves about 1,000 people a month. And, of course, Booth was given part of the money in gift cards as a reward.

Booth has been homeless for more than 7 years, and he frequents the food bank to get something to eat, he often stays down by the White River and has a good relationship with the local police.

Local Police Chief Brad Moericke presented Booth with a citizen citation to congratulate him and acknowledge him for his “selfless and honest actions.”

“Kevin kind of likes living outside. He makes the very best of it. He’s just a really cool guy. He’s always got a big smile on his face. We will take care of him for a long, long time,” Miller said about this remarkable man.

“This has been just a feel-good thing. It lets everybody know that there are just special people that are living out on the streets,” she added.

Booth is not the only homeless man who was tempted by finding a considerable amount of money and who, instead of using it to cover his many needs, decided to do the right thing.

Elmer Alvarez, from New Haven, Connecticut, went out of his way to find the owner of a $10,000 check he found while wandering on the streets.

The check was made out to Roberta Hoskie, owner of Outreach Realty Services, and thanks to the business’ contact information, Alvarez managed to contact her to return the money.

Hoskie was so touched and impressed by Alvarez actions, that she wrote him a check as a reward, and gave him the opportunity to attend her real estate school for free.

The realtor eventually revealed to Alvarez that she had been homeless when she was a teenage girl, and she wanted to do everything in her hands to help a goodhearted man in a difficult situation.

In yet another inspiring story, a homeless man showed his selflessness when he ran into a woman who had run out of gas in the middle of the night outside Philadelphia.

It was around 11 p.m. when Kate McClure got herself in car trouble, and not long after that, she saw Johnny Bobbitt Jr., a homeless man, approach to her car to tell her not to worry because he was going to help her.

McClure had no money on her, so Bobbitt ended up spending his last $20 to buy gas for her and ten minutes after they first met, he was back with a container filled with fuel.

After this incident, McClure and her boyfriend started to develop a friendship with Bobbitt, and they learned more about him.

Once serving in the US military, and dreaming of becoming a doctor, Bobbitt had become addicted to illegal substances and went broke, having no alternative but to live on the streets.

The couple was impressed by Bobbitt honesty and courage to not blame anybody but himself for what had become of his life, but they also felt that he truly deserved a second chance.

With this in mind, McClure and her boyfriend started a GoFundMe page with the hope of changing Bobbitt’s life for the better. And the amount of money they gathered for this honorable goal was way beyond what they expected.