Homeless black man finds $40,000 in travelers checks and cash and hands it over to police

[Ronnie Lott]

Glen James, a homeless man who lives in Boston, turned in a backpack containing $2,400 in U.S. currency, almost $40,000 in traveler's checks, as well as Chinese passports and other personal papers. He found the backpack in a Boston mall late Saturday.

BOSTON — The overwhelming response to a fund set up for a Boston homeless man who turned in a backpack he found filled with more than $40,000 in cash and traveler's checks is a "statement to everyone in America," says the Virginia man who started the drive. In just over two days, more than $91,000 has been donated to the fund for Glen James.

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 mall 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 of Midlothian, Va., started a fund for James on the crowdfunding site gofundme.com. By early Thursday, $91,855 in donations had been made.

Whittington, a 27-year-old 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."

Steven Senne/ASSOCIATED PRESS
James holds a special citation given to him by Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis, left, during a news conference at police headquarters.
RELATED: HOMELESS MAN FINDS $40,000 AND TURNS IT OVER

Whittington said he's also encountered some skeptics who question whether his efforts to raise money for James could be a scam.

"It's almost kind of depressing, to do something for a great cause, and you've got the naysayers out there," he said.

"I just wish there was some way I could 100 percent reassure everyone. I would be publicly humiliated if I scammed people now."

Whittington said he has spoken with James on the phone and hopes to come to Boston soon to work out how the money will be distributed to James. He said his new fundraising goal for James is $250,000, up from the $50,000 he originally hoped to raise.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...ffed-backpack-article-1.1460864#ixzz2fr1qeP6P

 

[MikelArteta]

good deeds are repaid

 

[BedRoomI'z]

 

[Ronnie Lott]

Im not sure if I would have turned that shyt in

 

[Real]

I'm not homeless....but i would've done the same thing. Losing money is no joke

 

[I'm Billy FUCO!!]

Yeah, I remember seeing this on reddit......they were encouraging people to contribute to the fundraiser for dude

 

[beanz]

i found an iphone 4s in the train during the first week after it came out. i considered returning it for about 5 minutes before i hit the factory reset button and sold it the next day for $400

then about 3 months later i was digging in my pockets to give a homeless person a dollar and a $100 bill fell out of my pockets. by the time i realized it n went back to the spot the homeless man was long gone

then maybe 2 months after that my cell phone unexplainably bricked and i had to spend $300 on a new one.

karma brehs. its real.

 

[Box Cutta]

I may have turned it in...but only because that shyt sound shady as fukk, especially given the boston bombings recently happening and still being in the back of your mind. Chinese passports? The fukk kinda terrorist plot did I stumble upon?

 

[skeetsinternal]

sheeeeeet....I would have kept it

 

[Stuntone]

I wouldve turned in the travelers checks

 

[Ronnie Lott]

i found an iphone 5s in the train during the first week after it came out. i considered returning it for about 5 minutes before i hit the factory reset button and sold it the next day for $400

then about 3 months later i was digging in my pockets to give a homeless person a dollar and a $100 bill fell out of my pockets. by the time i realized it n went back to the spot the homeless man was long gone

then maybe 2 months after that my cell phone unexplainably bricked and i had to spend $300 on a new one.

karma breh's. its real.

 

[AAKing23]

I would of returned it of couse



But only about 20k of it

 

[BlvdBrawler]

How does someone lose such a bag in the first place tho?

 

[#1 pick]

i found an iphone 4s in the train during the first week after it came out. i considered returning it for about 5 minutes before i hit the factory reset button and sold it the next day for $400

then about 3 months later i was digging in my pockets to give a homeless person a dollar and a $100 bill fell out of my pockets. by the time i realized it n went back to the spot the homeless man was long gone

then maybe 2 months after that my cell phone unexplainably bricked and i had to spend $300 on a new one.

karma brehs. its real.

I agree, it's real.

 

[beanz]

How does someone lose such a bag in the first place tho?

u would be surprised breh..i used to work in times square as a security guard and we got hit up DAILY by tourist who lost valuable shyt. One bytch lost her ipad after she JUST bought it. bytch had the receipt in the bag and everything. One lady, idk how true this is, claims she lost her purse with 10k in it that she just took out of the bank. My fellow guards all brushed it off as bullshyt saying she just wanted to see if the store would replace it but i looked all over for that shyt after she left