Homeless B.C. man who turned in $2,000 turns down $5,000 in donations

[jnelsoninjax]

VICTORIA -- A homeless man who turned in more than $2,000 he found on a suburban Victoria street wants thousands of dollars in donations collected for him across Canada to help others in need.

The mystery man in his 60s has never spoken publicly since bringing the money to the West Shore RCMP detachment two weeks ago.

Const. Alex Berube said he spent hours on and off shift searching for the Langford man to tell him about the money waiting for him before finding him on Monday.

"Instead of asking how to collect it, he asked me how to donate it to Our Place and other food service providers," Berube said Thursday.

He said investigators asked the man to think about his decision overnight and return to the detachment the next day, but the man stuck to his original wish, saying all he wanted was help finding a job.

Mike Kelly, of the media website Victoria Buzz, started the fundraising effort for the man and said over $5,000 was donated.

He said an Ottawa family pitched in $116 and then came back with another donation.

"The kids wanted to raise more so they set up a lemonade stand and they raised an additional $255."

Kelly said he will do everything he can to help the man find a job and that he's trying to determine how to contact him because the homeless man doesn't have a phone.

Police said the person who lost the $2,000 has claimed the money after answering a series of questions that verified his identity.

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