Homeless man finds $17,000 outside food bank and gives it to volunteer

Money returned to charity after 90 days when no one claims it and Kevin Booth rewarded with citizen's citation for honesty

Kevin Booth with Sumner Community Food Bank director Anita Miller, who gave him a thank-you note and gift card as a reward for turning in $17,000 (Sumner Police Department)

A homeless man is being praised after he handed in $17,000 he found inside a bag outside a food bank in Washington.

Kevin Booth, 32, found the cash inside a brown bag outside the Sumner Food Bank in Sumner in August while looking for the bread that is left outside the building for people to take.

When Mr Booth opened the bag he saw it was filled with $17,000 (£13,400) worth of cash.

“At first, I was like, what the heck is that lying on the ground?” Mr Booth said in an interview with the local newspaper, the News Tribune.

“Of course, I sniffed it to see if it was real. Then I was like, do I take off or do I stay?”

Mr Booth waited outside the foodbank until it opened about 20 minutes later and handed the bag to a volunteer who opened the door for him at 7.30am.

“He said, 'This is for you, somebody left it on your doorstep,' ” Anita Miller, director of the Sumner Food Bank, said in an interview with the Washington Post.

The volunteer initially thought it was food and weighed the package, as is routine for all food donations.

Kevin Booth holding his friend's dog with Sumner Police officers (Sumner Police Department)

But she quickly realised something was amiss and called police. Inside the bag were stacks of $20 and $100 notes.

Sumner police then arrived at the food bank, took possession of the money and opened an investigation.

Nobody knew where the bag had come from, and the food bank's security camera was not functioning properly so it did not pick up any useful information.

“It's strange for someone to leave a bunch of money like that outside a food bank,” said Sumner police officer Marcus McDonald in an interview with the Washington Post.

Investigators checked with nearby police departments, looked into any robberies in the area and checked for suicidal people who may have withdrawn a large sum. But they couldn't identify who the money belonged to.

Last week, after the required 90 days had passed and nobody else claimed the loot, police gave it back to the Sumner Community Food Bank in a ceremony in which they also presented Mr Booth with a citizen's citation for his honesty.

Police Chief Brad Moericke presented the citation to Mr Booth.

“Not every citizen would be as honest as you in this situation,” Mr Moericke told him, according to the News Tribune.

The food bank also is giving Mr Booth a reward to thank him.

But to protect Mr Booth the food bank decided it will give him various gift cards over time rather than a lump sum of cash as a reward.

Ms Miller, the food bank director, said she and other volunteers at the food bank have known Mr Booth for years, and they plan to help him through the winter. Ms Miller said Booth lives in a tent in nearby woods, and has turned down her offers of shelter.

“We'll be able to get coats or shoes for him,” Ms Miller said. “He will not take a room and board, he turns down inside living.”

The food pantry serves about 1,000 people a month in Sumner, a city of about 10,000 people. Anyone is allowed to go in and pick up meat, produce and other goods at no charge.

Additionally, each Friday, volunteers deliver 500 backpacks full of food to schoolchildren who take them home for the weekend.

Ms Miller said the newfound funds will go towards buying a walk-in refrigerator and freezer for the food bank's planned expansion. She said she and the rest of the staff are grateful for Mr Booth's integrity and decency.

“He said, 'That was a real big decision for me, but if it's not yours, you shouldn't be taking it,'” Ms Miller said. “He's a very honest man.”

For his part, Booth told the News Tribune: “There are a lot of people who would have taken it. I'm just not that person.”

Washington Post