A fund established to help a homeless man who returned a lost backpack containing more than $42,000 (£26,000) has raised almost $110,000 (£68,500).
Boston man Glen James, 54, spoke to police after he found the backpack containing $2,400 (£1,500) in cash and nearly $40,000 (£25,000) in traveller’s cheques at the South Bay Mall.
The man who lost the backpack told workers at a nearby store and they called police, who later returned the backpack to him.
Virginia resident Ethan Whittington read media accounts of Mr James’ honesty and started a fund for him on a crowd-funding website.
The fund has since raised more than $100,000, including $182 (£114) of pocket money saved up by two young children.
The Boston Police Department publicly thanked Mr James, saying his actions were “a remarkable tribute to him and his honesty”.
Mr James said in a statement: “Even if I were desperate for money, I would not have kept even a penny of the money I found.
“I am extremely religious. God has always very well looked after me.”
Virginia resident Ethan Whittington has never been to Boston, and he didn’t have plans to make a trip to the city anytime soon, either. That is, until a fundraiser he started—for a homeless man who selflessly turned in a lost bag of cash he found in Dorchester—surpassed its goal of $50,000.
“It’s pretty overwhelming,” said Whittington about the online fundraiser. Whittington had to use his lunch break on Wednesday to call back the throngs of news reporters from around the country who have contacted him about his money-raising efforts, on GoFundMe.com, for Glen James. “The heat is still coming. It’s a continuous flow it seems like. It’s becoming even bigger than what I ever thought it could be.”
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