--I WONDER IF WE STILL FIT
…How was your weekend? Did you spend it with people who make you
happy?
…I like this story (There
was a really sweet photo of the homeless man hugging the hotel manager that I
couldn’t get):
Joel
Hartman was homeless, hungry and dumpster diving for food when he came across
what could have been an easy payday, a tourist's wallet with her identification
and credit card.
Hartman, who admitted to HLN affiliate WSB that
he's has done bad deeds in the past due to drinking and doing drugs, decided to
take the high road and find the wallet's owner.
Hartman, 36, walked the streets of downtown
Atlanta going to four different hotels before discovering the owner was staying
at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center.
Surveillance videos captured Hartman turning in
the wallet to hotel security guards. He gave them a fake name, "Josh
Crabber," figuring they didn't need to know who he was since he was doing
the right thing.
Scott Stuckey, the managing director of the hotel,
found out that the wallet belonged to a French tourist in town for a
conference. The woman had reported to Atlanta police that her wallet had been
stolen on November 7 and now thanks to Hartman's perseverance, she had it
back.
Stuckey knew it was his turn to do the tracking.
"When you're looking through food in the garbage
can, it's probably one of the toughest times of his life. But when you find
somebody's wallet and you do the right thing, I think we'd like to do the right
thing by this person," Stuckey told WSB.
Stuckey and members of his staff hit the streets
talking to homeless people looking for their wallet hero. On November 22 after
hearing through word of mouth that he was being sought, Hartman showed up at
the Omni, where Stuckey and hotel staff wanted to reward him in a big
way.
The hotel put the homeless man up in a luxury room
through the Thanksgiving holiday. The hotel also treated Hartman to room
service and gave him $500. Hartman was speechless at the gesture. All he could
do was sweep Stuckey into a big hug and say thank you.
"It's just for doing the right thing. Maybe
someone will see this, totally drugged out and stuff, like that ugly guy can do
something about it. Maybe I can too," Hartman said.
Hartman told WSB that he's been homeless since March, when his
longtime girlfriend died. Recently, he'd been sleeping in the woods in an
Atlanta suburb. After he leaves the Omni, Hartman said he'll get on a freight
train and head to Alaska.Hartman said he has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and he has a hard time holding down a steady job, but he does odd jobs.
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