Last week, a Kansas City homeless panhandler had the sweetest find at the bottom of his cup — an engagement ring.
Billy Ray Harris, 55, took this piece of jewelry and had it appraised despite the fact he initially thought that the ring, a diamond and platinum sparkler, was fake. The ring, as it turns out, was actually worth some money. ”Worth enough that he was ready to give me four grand right there on the spot,” Harris told NBC’s Michelle Franzen.
But deep down, beneath the dirty fingernails and weathered clothing, is a kind, beating, honest heart. Though Harris briefly entertained the thought of cashing in big, his grandfather had raised him to be honest — he knew he couldn’t keep the dollars.
So when Sarah Darling came back to the spot where she dropped off more than some spare change, she was happy to find Harris and her lost engagement ring ready to be returned. “I’m eternally grateful for you,” Darling told Harris.
And the story doesn’t end there. Darling and her husband, Bill Krejci, were so grateful to Harris that they started a campaign to gather some financial support for him. Their goal was simply $1,000. That was quickly surpassed with over $14,000.
“The idea was maybe to come up with a couple hundred dollars, something nice for him,” Krejci said in an interview with News One. “But now we’re talking about an amount that could really make a difference.”
How’s that for good karma?
