(NaturalNews) A social experiment investigating how homeless people spend the money that generous souls send their way has sparked a glimmer of light in an otherwise dark age. A video crew in California recently captured one homeless man's heartwarmingly good deeds after being given $100, proving that there are still good people in this world who live from a position of self-sacrifice rather than greed.

Prankster Josh Paler Lin recently went undercover with his camera team to follow a homeless man begging next to a freeway on-ramp, to whom he gave $100. Expecting the man to use the money on booze after he was seen stepping foot into a nearby liquor store, Lin and his crew were shocked to observe the man going around a city park handing out food to other homeless individuals, who it was later found didn't even know him.

After filming the man in secret from afar for a few hours, Lin decided to approach him to apologize and explain the situation. The man, surprised to see Lin again, gave him a big hug and thanked him for his generosity. He proceeded to explain how, despite not having a home or much money himself, he gets great joy from sharing with others in need.

"There's things money can't buy," the man explained on camera in the video below.



"I get happiness out of what I'm doing," he said.

Some homeless people really are down on their luck and in legitimate need

Amazed by the man's sincere transparency, Lin attempted to give him even more money, which he initially resisted. After reluctantly accepting it, the man proceeded to tell his sobering story, which in all reality could happen to any one of us given the perfect storm of harrowing circumstances.

"Basically, I was living with my parents," he explained to Lin.

"My stepdad had cancer, and they had hospice... but the insurance only pays so much. I quit working because I had to be available. So he passed away, and then two weeks later my mother passed away from kidney failure. The building they're in is being sold, the condo, and I all of a sudden found myself homeless. That's been like four months now."

It can be easy to just disregard all beggars or homeless people with stories that don't really seem to pan out as liars or just lazy. But in this case, a man ran into legitimate problems in his life, seemingly all outside of his control, and was left with nothing as a result. And yet, despite all this, he still believes in helping others, even when he has little or nothing left for himself.

"There's a lot of people that are just victims of circumstance, and they didn't go homeless because they're lazy... it could be a divorce, one thing leads to another," added the man. "A man sells his boat, his home, everything and all of a sudden he's got no money... there's a lot of good people that are homeless."

Homelessness is a growing epidemic in America today, with up to 25 percent of homeless people employed but not making enough money to have a place to live. More than 33 percent of homeless people are actually children -- the average age of a homeless person is nine years old -- and roughly half of all homeless women and children are homeless because they are fleeing domestic abuse.

More facts on homelessness are available here:
TheAntiMedia.org.

Sources:

http://www.thedailysheeple.com

http://youtube.com

http://theantimedia.org