Sarah Darling wasn’t thinking of the ring she had taken off when she emptied her change purse into a local homeless man’s change cup. It wasn’t for another hour that Billy Ray Harris found the ring in his cup and it wasn’t until the next day that Sarah realized it was gone. Frantically retracing her steps she the found Harris at the same spot as the day before:
“She squatted down like you did right there and says ‘Do you remember me? I was like ‘I don’t know I see a lot of faces.’ She said, ‘I might have gave you something very valuable’ and I said ‘Was it a ring?’ and she says ‘Yeah.’ and I says, ‘Well, I have it.'”
It would be easy for a man down on his luck to see this as a blessing and rush to capitalize on it. Harris, however, kept the ring thinking someone might come for it. When asked why he didn’t pawn the ring he responded:
“My grandfather was a reverend, he raised me from the time I was six-months-old and thank the good Lord, this is a blessing, I still have some character.”
Sarah was incredibly thankful to get her ring back, she even went the extra mile to try and help him out.
After getting her ring back, Darling and her now-husband set up an online fundraising campaign for Harris. In no time at all, over $200,000 was raised for the man. He is no longer homeless and has reunited with his family.
The whole experience seems to have left an impression on her as well:
“I think in our world we often just jump to like the worst conclusion and it just makes you realize that there are good people out there.”
Cheers to Billy Ray Harris for showing that even the people who are most in need of assistance can assist others.
And today we celebrate...