Homeless man opts to give away $5,000 reward

A homeless man who found $2,400 cash on a Vancouver Island street then turned it in to police has performed yet another act of heartwarming goodwill.

The Langford man, in his 60s, brought the cash to the West Shore RCMP detachment earlier this month and after hearing about his good deed, Victoria Buzz founder Mike Kelly created a GoFundMe page hoping to provide him with a reward.

Supporters donated more than $5,000 to the cause, but the man has declined his share of the generous sum; instead, he’s asking all the money be donated to Our Place community centre and other food-service providers for people in need.

Our Place was already in line to receive half of the funds in excess of $2,400, as per Kelly’s instructions, but will now get the bulk of the money.

“After hearing this story and seeing how this case touched so many people, I took a personal interest in finding this man, looking for him everywhere while on and off shift,” said West Shore RCMP Const. Alex Bérubé. “It’s not easy tracking down a person of no fixed address and no phone, but I kept trying because I needed to tell him about how the community had rallied together to help him.”

Bérubé managed to locate the man on Monday. After he turned down the donation, investigators asked him to reconsider his decision overnight. When they met the next day, the man stuck by his request to donate the funds — but told them he’d like to find a job.

“Here is a man who is facing many challenges, yet despite that he chose to do the right thing and see that another person wasn’t left short thousands of dollars and facing the challenges that would bring,” Kelly is quoted in a media release.

“Now I’m going to do everything I can to help find him a job that fits his personal situation and will hopefully move him closer to overcoming his current challenges.”

The man who originally lost the $2,400 has been identified and retrieved his money from police.