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Glen James was a homeless man who found a backpack stuffed with $42,000. He turned it over to the police rather than keeping it. After reading about his honest act, Ethan Whittington set up a fund for Glen and strangers from all over the world donated a total of $148,000. This kind, honest man is not homeless anymore.
Boston Homeless Man Rewarded for Moral Deed
Appeared originally in Spare Change News
Jack Adams
BOSTON, Mass.--On September 15th, a homeless man names Glen James flagged down a policeman to whom he gave a bag containing $40,000 in cash and travellers checks which he had found unattended at the South Bay Center. Police reunited the bag with its owner, a student visiting from China.
The Boston Police Commissioner gave James a citation, commemorating him for his honesty in returning the money.
Ethan Wittington, a Marketing accounts manager from Virginia, was so impressed with James’ story that he created a GoFundMe page to raise money for him. His initial goal was $50,000, but as James’ story spread, the fund skyrocketed, reaching well over $100,000. As of October 8th the fund has raised $153,000. Wittington now aims to raise $250,000.
On Thursday, Wittington came to Boston to personally give Glen James the money raised for him. They met at an NBC studio, where James thanked Wittington vehemently for establishing the fundraiser, Today.com reported.
Many users who left comments on Whittington’s GoFundMe page doubted the wisdom of handing a large amount of money over to a homeless person. “Stupid to give this amount of money to a homeless bum the backpack isn’t even worth 250k. This money would be better elsewhere in helping fund more homeless shelters or job training,” said one commenter.
In the 2005 Showtime documentary, Reversal of Fortune, filmmaker Wayne Powers gives a homeless man $100,000 in order to see how wisely he uses the money. In short, he spends all the money on cars for himself and friends, refusing to meet with a financial planner when the option is given to him. Before long, he is back on the streets, having spent the entire $100,000. The film supports a commonly held suspicion that homeless people are incapable of managing money.
Wittington placed the funds in the trust of James’ sister, to assuage the fears of those who donated that James might waste the money on drugs and alcohol, despite the fact that James has never been addicted to either. The money will be used initially to pay for housing, and subsequently to provide services for James, such as health care. He will still have access to the money.
James is reluctant to speak about himself because he stutters. Instead he wrote a statement, which Ethan Wittington posted on the GoFundMe page. “Anyone who wouldn't have turned in all that money would have had to be sick in one way or another. I may look sick, but I am a genius!” James wrote, “I am getting permanent housing. Other homeless people have been asking me, how soon will they be getting housing? Do they have to wait to find a backpack with $40,000 in it?”
Glen James did the moral thing, and returned the money without knowing he would receive over a hundred thousand in online donations. Most homeless people are not lucky enough to find $40,000, and even fewer people in general have a moral compass as strong as Glen’s.
Is James the only homeless person in Boston who would have returned the money?
One homeless man said he wouldn’t have considered keeping it, because it would have come back to haunt him later.
A small homeless woman rocking on a milk crate said that whether or not she would keep the money depended on her circumstances, ”If I was on drugs at that time, I would keep it, but if I was straight, I'd give it back.”
She went on to say she had seen people drop wallets before, and typically returned them, except in once instance, where a man had made a rude comment to her moments before dropping his wallet. “It was karma. He made a smart comment and then he dropped his wallet, so it was meant for me, I think. God looked out for me, there was some reason he dropped it at that time.”
Another man panhandling with a sign that read, “Out of jail for 61 days, will you help a convicted felon?” said that in the spur of the moment, he probably would have kept the money.
“I probably would have bought a car, and paid off some of my debts, I don't know, I have a newborn, so take care of him,” he said.
Homeless man 'never expected' $148K reward for returning $40K
(Photo: TODAY)
Glen James, a homeless man from Boston, found and returned a backpack with more than $40,000 worth of cash and traveler’s checks. A stranger from Virginia launched an online campaign to reward him, and people around the world donated more than $140,000.
More from TODAY
Imagine visiting your friend in the city, carrying over $40,000 with you in your backpack, and then losing it? Now imagine it becoming a national story ……… In case you haven’t heard, there’s been talk of the awe-inspiring story of Glen James, a Boston homeless shelter resident who found a lost backpack at Dorchester’s South Bay Mall [...]
Our 'Beat The Press Party' Bakeoff ( Edition)
The hardbaking staff has been AWOL the past few weeks – Matriculation and all that – but we’re back now, presumably to the dismay of one person and another.
So, let the Great Boston MediaWatch Dogfight re(jack)boot, and don’t spare the horse laughs.
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the charity here is up to 111k.
in all likelihood, this will end badly. the man is homeless. more often than not, being homeless shows bad money management skills. this is especially true if, like this man, you've been homeless for years. don't be surprised if he throws all this money away in something foolish.
if someone really wants to help this man, find an honest accountant who will help him manage all this charity. it's over 100k so there's enough for him to live well for a long time if he just has a plan and the strength to follow said plan.
Honesty earns Boston homeless man $104,000--and counting
Associated Press, September 19, 2013
Boston--A fund for a homeless man who turned in a backpack with more than $40,000 inside has collected more than $104,000--an overwhelming response that is a "statement to everyone in America," according to the man who started the donation drive.
Glen James flagged down a police officer Saturday after he found the backpack containing $2,400 in cash and almost $40,000 in traveler's checks at the South Bay Mall in Boston. The man who lost it told workers at a nearby store and they called police, who later returned the backpack to him.
Boston police honored James with a special citation Monday. After reading media accounts of James' honesty, a stranger, Ethan Whittington, started a fund for James on the crowdfunding site gofundme.com. By Thursday noon, $104,000 in donations had been made.
Whittington, a 27-year-old from Midlothian, Va., who is an accounts manager for a marketing firm, said he decided to try to raise money for James after reading about his honesty. Now Whittington says he's overwhelmed by the generosity of strangers.
"The fact that he's in the situation he is, being homeless, it blew my mind that he would do this (turn in the backpack)," Whittington said Wednesday.
"It's caught on like wildfire ever since," he said. "It's brought me a lot of hope. ... This isn't only about rewarding a great guy. I think it's a statement to everyone in America. If we come together and work toward one thing and work together, then we can make it happen."
We need more good people like this
