Donations for Honest Homeless Man Tops $100K
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blackred/Getty Images(BOSTON) — Fundraising for a Boston homeless man heralded as an honest guy after handing in a backpack he found that contained over $40,000 in cash and travelers checks has topped more than $104,000 in just a few days.
“I’m in complete shock,” Ethan Whittington, the man who organized the fundraiser, told ABC News Thursday with a laugh. “It’s more money than I’ve ever seen.”
“It’s completely changing my life,” he said. “It gets you thinking. Imagine the possibilities if we continue to do this as a nation. It’s so inspiring to see the way that everyone is coming together.”
The money has been raised by more than 4,000 strangers since the campaign was posted on GoFundMe.com on Monday. Donations and messages have poured in from all over the U.S. as well as countries as far as Brazil, France and Australia.
Whittington has set the effort’s fundraising goal at $250,000.
Glen James found the black backpack with $2,400 in cash, $39,500 in travelers checks and a passport at the South Bay Mall in Dorchester on Saturday evening. He promptly reported it to police.
Officers then returned the bag to the owner, a student visiting from China, and Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis presented a special citation to James for his “extraordinary show of character and honesty.”
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