Post date: Feb 26, 2013 7:17:24 PM
A U.S. homeless man gains international attention after he returns a diamond ring mistakenly given to him, campaign to reward him raises over $150,000.
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (KCTV) - U.S. homeless man, Billy Ray Harris, has become a local celebrity after returning a diamond engagement ring that was mistakenly given to him.
Sarah Darling accidentally dropped the ring into Harris' cup when she gave him spare change. He discovered the ring and decided to hold on to it. When Darling realized the ring was missing, she returned to Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri whereHarris panhandles, and he returned the diamond."I'm just so grateful," Darling told Harris when they reunited recently.
"I could tell exactly how much it meant to you, the moment I held it up like that," Harristold her.
The story has received national and international attention, but Harris remains a bit uncomfortable with the recognition.
"It's more stressful than what I'm doing right now," he said.
Harris remains modest about his deed.
"What I'm actually feeling like, is what has the world come to when a person returns something that don't belong to them, and all this happens," he said.
As a result of the attention, Harris has been in contact with his sister Robin for the first time in almost two decades, after she saw a report from her home in Wichita Falls,Texas.
"Sixteen years later, we just found out that he's still living," she said.
"That is a gift. I've been so worried about my sister. My baby sister and my middle sister, they are my best friends in the whole world," a happy Harris told a KCTV reporter who gave him his sister's phone number.
Robin said Harris was welcome to come home.
"I want him to come home, but we can't make him come home, but I want him to know that we love him and we miss him," she said.
Harris said being in contact with his sister, is his "biggest reward."
Darling's fiancé has begun an Internet campaign to raise money for Harris.
As of Tuesday, February 26, it has raised over $150,000 on but that figure could grow much higher in the 79 days left in the 90-day fundraiser.