A homeless man in Washington was praised for doing the right thing after spotting $17,000 lying on the street in front of a food bank.
Kevin Booth, 32, returned the thousands of dollars and was graciously rewarded with gift cards from the funds.
Booth, a homeless man from Sumner, Washington – 35 miles south of Seattle – stumbled upon a brown paper bag full of money in 2018.
The bag was outside the Sumner Food Bank, and upon close inspection, Booth realized it contained money, according to the Seattle Times.
“At first, I was like, ‘What the hell is that on the floor?’” Booth told the outlet.
“So I thought, ‘Should I leave or stay?’”
The homeless man chose to do the latter and handed the money over to the food bank, which he had already visited previously.
“We were very, very surprised,” said Anita Miller, director of the food bank, People.
“He said, ‘I knew it was for the food bank. It was a big decision whether to turn it in or not, but I turned it in because it would be theft if I didn’t.
“It wasn’t for me.”
Food bank staff inspected the bag and contacted police, who held the money for 90 days in case anyone came forward to claim it.
“We have no idea where it came from,” Miller said.
“They thought someone had left it on our doorstep and wanted to give it to us.
“The police investigated, but no one came forward. It was manna from heaven, I guess.”
After the 90-day waiting period, officers turned the funds over to the Sumner Food Bank for safekeeping.
Food bank staff gave Booth some of the money in the form of gift cards to reward his virtuous act.
We will take care of him for a long, long time.
Anita Miller, food bank director
The homeless man also received a citizen citation honoring his “selfless and honest actions.”
“Kevin likes living outdoors. He makes the best of it,” the food bank director said of Booth.
“He’s a really nice guy. He always has a big smile on his face.
“We’re going to take care of him for a long, long time.
“This has just been a nice thing.
“It lets everyone know there are special people living on the streets.”
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story