Honest homeless man returns $10k check to owner gets house and training Most of us would return money we found on the street if we could.
One homeless man returned life-changing money to its owner.
New Haven’s homeless Elmer Alvarez found the $10,000 check.
Elmer could have done anything with that check, but he returned it.
His honesty led to a better life.
Real estate agent Roberta Hoskie lost the check at a busy intersection and didn’t realize it until the next day.
When Elmer found the check, his first thought was, “I got to look for this person.”
He denied cashing it.
It never occurred to me because I changed my life. “I’m clean for three years,” Elmer told CBS News.
Roberta wanted to find Elmer and thank him after the check was returned.
She said she expected a clean-shaven, blue-suited man.
Instead, she received Elmer, who brought a friend because his English was poor and told Roberta he was destitute.
Roberta said it broke preconceptions.
Elmer cried when Roberta gave him a thank-you check.
Roberta livestreamed her meeting with Elmer on Facebook to dispel homeless clichés.
After living in a shelter as a teen parent with $400 a month to support herself and her son, Roberta knows there are numerous reasons people become homeless.
Roberta built a multimillion-dollar real estate enterprise from poverty.
Roberta helped Elmer throughout the year after their meeting. She found him an apartment, paid his rent for 7 months, and put him through real estate school so he could work for her company.
The two want to establish a transitional residence for homeless teens and young adults with Elmer’s essential services.
I know homelessness. “Nobody deserves that,” he remarked.
Elmer returned that check expecting no compensation. I’m delighted people have noticed the humanity of street people that Elmer has the life he deserves.
Like Roberta and Elmer, helping others is remembered and passed on.