It was a pretty decent story to begin with: a homeless man finds a wad of cash, and instead of keeping it for himself he decides to turn it in. That’s the way it started, anyhow. In time the police told him he could keep the money because no one else had claimed it, and it wasn’t long after that that the commotion began. Because he failed to report the money (which totaled $850) as income, a Human Services official declared, he lost benefits that were due him, and that opened the floodgates.
An outrage, the public declared, and more than a few people in high places agreed with them. The United Way set up a fund for the man, and people contributed enough so that the total dwarfed the initial cash discovery. And along the way, the man made an impassioned plea for his fellow victims of homelessness – in a thoughtful manner, one that made the general public sit up and take notice.
In short, it was a quite a story now. And there’s clearly a lot yet to be told.
James Brady – for that is the man’s name – does not quite fit the image of someone who’s homeless. A former newspaper photographer and data analyst who has suffered from depression and fell upon hard times, he lives in Hackensack, New Jersey. That’s where reporter Hannan Adely has told his story in The Record, including his appearances before the City Council to describe the plight of the homeless. Even though he now lives in an apartment, aided by a Bergen County rent assistance program, he has reached out to the newspaper and the council – both before and after his brush with fame – to sum up his feelings.
“We have issues in the town with the homeless and the way they’ve been treated,” he said. “‘Homeless’ and ‘criminal’ are not synonymous.”
“I have no problem with cracking down on homeless people when they’re doing something wrong,” he added. “When they’re not doing something wrong, they should be treated with the same respect as anyone else.”
Even though state officials have said they would take steps to fill in the gaps in Brady’s benefits, and a county representative said the matter “could have been handled better,” a sense of public protest followed the decision to cancel out the benefits because Brady failed to report the income. News organizations spread the story and donations began pouring in. Several hundred contributors sent in nearly $10,000, The Record reported, and an official of the United Way said the money would be used to meet Brady’s medical needs.
“To see it get picked up by so many papers and the response--it’s tremendous,” Brady said. “People are very sympathetic.”
Should he have handled it differently – just pocketed the money, say?
“Nah,” he said. “That’s not the right thing to do.” He added that he was “proud” to turn in the money to the police, in a way to show that homeless people still know to do the “good and decent” thing.
“We’re not criminals,” Brady said. “We’re just down on our luck.”
(This essay is a recent “Light One Candle” column, written by Jerry Costello, of The Christophers; it is one of a series of weekly columns that deal with a variety of topics and current events.)
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