A homeless man is receiving praise around the world for his kind heartedness, after he donated a bag he found filled with $17,000 to a food bank to feed the hungry.
32-year-old Kevin Booth, who had been homeless for around seven years, discovered the package outside the Sumner Food Bank in Washington.
He expected it to be a loaf of bread left outside by the food bank!
To his surprise, the bag was filled with $20 and $100 notes.
“At first, I was like, ‘What the heck is that lying on the ground?’” Kevin told the News Tribune.
At first, he didn’t even think the cash was real!
“Of course, I sniffed it to see if it was real.”
And then he faced the biggest dilemma of all.
Kevin explained, “Then I was like, ‘Do I take off or do I stay?’”
The money easily could have given him a whole new life!
He had been visiting the food bank for years, so he decided to wait until they opened to give the cash to a volunteer.
“There are a lot of people who would have taken it,” Kevin explained. “I’m just not that person.”
According to the Washington Post, Kevin told the volunteer the cash was for them and that someone had left it on their doorstep.
The food bank then contacted the police, who then started to investigate just where the money came from.
But CCTV at the food bank wasn’t working that morning, and nobody reported any missing or stolen cash! Nobody came forward to claim the $17,000.
So after 90 days had passed, authorities finally handed the cash over to the food bank and praised Kevin’s honest act in a ceremony.
“He’s a very honest man.”
“He said, ‘That was a real big decision for me, but if it’s not yours, you shouldn’t be taking it,’” Anita Miller, director of the Sumner Food Bank told the Washington Post.
“Not every citizen would be as honest as you in this situation,” police chief Chief Brad Moericke said.
As a reward, Kevin was given a bunch of gift cards to help him buy some shoes and coats to keep him warm in the winter.
Anita said he “turns down inside living” and actually rents a tent close by in the woods.
The food bank said it will use the cash to purchase a freezer, a walk-in refrigerator and to expand the building.
Credit: Inside Edition