The internet tried to give a homeless man $5,000 but he refused and asked for a job instead
Last month, a homeless man in Victoria, Canada, found $2,400 in cash and promptly turned it in to the police.
Constable Alex Bérubé issued a press release looking for the owner of the money, and web site Victoria Buzz posted it. The police said that if its rightful owner could not be found, the money would belong to the homeless man.
But the rightful owner was found and was in dire need of the money.
News about the generous homeless man went viral, so Victoria Buzz's founder Mike Kelly set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise $2,400 for the man.
Within a few days the campaign hit over $5,000.
Bérubé was so touched by the situation that he went out in search of the homeless man, spending time off duty to find him and tell him about the money.
"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 said in a press release issued by the Royal Canadian Mounted police.
When the constable located the man, he was shocked by the man's answer.
He didn't want the GoFundMe money. He wanted it to be donated to a charity known as Our Place that provides food and shelter to the needy. He even put his wishes for the money in writing.
What the man really wanted was a job, he said.
"Now I'm going to do everything I can to help find him a job that fits his personal situation," Kelly said in the press release.
The homeless man did not want to be identified so Kelly is collecting information about job openings on his behalf at info@victoriabuz.com.