Ethan Whittington, left, never met Glenn James, but said he felt compelled to help him after learning about his good deed. (WBRC/AP)
An Alabama man raised over $70,000 for the Boston homeless man who was recently credited with turning in a bag filled with $42,000 in cash and travelers checks.
Ethan Whittington watched reports of how Glenn James alerted police after finding the bag in a TJ Maxx parking lot. James was honored at a police ceremony on Tuesday, but Whittington told MyFoxAl.com he wanted to make sure James got more than a pat on the back.
"When I read the story yesterday about this man, you know, being in the situation that he's in and doing the honorable thing, it makes you feel good. It makes you feel like there's still people in this world that still care," Whittington told the station.
Whittington said he assumed he'd receive a few donations amounting to a couple of hundred dollars. But he checked the account on GoFundMe.com/4by2as and saw it approached $5,000;on Tuesday night the amount reached $50,000.
Last summer, James, who is in his 50s and lives in a homeless shelter, noticed a young man at the South Bay plaza in Boston leave behind a large bag, the report said. James observed the bag’s contents, and alerted police because “God has always very well looked after me.”
“Even if I were desperate for money, I would not have kept even a penny,” he wrote in a statement.
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