We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Honesty is the best policy when it comes to finding things that aren’t yours. A homeless man in Kansas City, Mo. found that out in quite a delightful way, after returning a diamond engagement ring he found in his change cup to the woman who’d dropped it. She and her fiancé have raised $145,000 in donations to reward him for his kindness.

Earlier this month, the man found the bit of bling in his cup and realized that whoever had dropped it probably didn’t mean to, reports the Associated Press. And he was right — the woman had taken off her ring earlier in the day and put it in her coin purse, where it got mixed up with her change.

“The ring was so big that I knew if it was real, it was expensive,” he told KCTV at the time.

The woman was terrified when she realized what had happened, and went back to the man the next day and told him she thought she might’ve left something valuable behind with her quarters and dimes.

“‘Was it a ring?'” he remembered asking her. “And she says, ‘Yeah.’ And I said ‘Well, I have it.’ ”

“It seemed like a miracle. I thought for sure there was no way I would get it back,” she said.

At that time she gave him all the cash she had on her to thank him. By now, more than 6,000 people have made donations to the man via the couple’s web site.

“I think in our world we often jump to like the worst conclusion, and it just makes you realize that there are good people out there,” she explained.

It’s not the first time the man has helped out in a big way — he says a retired Raiders player once lost his Super Bowl ring in the creek near where he sits. The man found it and walked it over to the player’s hotel later to give it back and received a nice reward that time as well.

Go on, let the warm fuzzies wash over you.

Homeless hero returns woman’s engagement ring [Associated Press]
Homeless man returns ring accidentally given to him [KCTV]

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