This man is giving away an engagement ring—for free

Steven Crocker bought an engagement ring with the intentions of proposing to his girlfriend. But before he could drop to one knee, he and his girlfriend of a little over one year ended their relationship, leaving him with an unused engagement ring.

Now he’s hoping he’ll make another couple’s dream come true by giving someone who can’t afford it the engagement ring he bought—for free.

He posted about his plan to give up the ring for free on Facebook, calling for couples to submit stories of how they met and more so he could choose the couple he felt was the most deserving.

The post is only one week old, and Crocker has already received nearly 1,000 emails from couples.

“As of this morning, I have 960 unread emails. I’ve read probably 150. I’ve got over 100 Facebook messages I’ve been trying to sift through,” he told Today during an interview on March 9. “I’m not going to pick anybody until I read all of them. I should have probably picked a deadline in hindsight.”

That’s right. There’s no deadline on when he’ll make a decision, but he’s been updating the post to let people know where he’s at in the process.

The most recent update at the time of publication read:

“I’m not EXACTLY sure how many submissions I’ve received, as I’ve been reading as many as I can while they continue to come in, but it is safe to say that we are pushing 1,600 messages and emails! If I ever win the Powerball, I’m buying everyone a ring! Unfortunately, though, I have yet to win the lottery. This will be a very difficult decision. So far I’ve read almost 500 messages and have flagged about 100 to revisit after I read them all.”

Choosing who should get the ring may not be easy, but the decision to give it away for free was an easy one for Crocker to make. The 23-year-old did contemplate selling the ring, but he kept getting offers that were much less than the $1,700 he paid for the 1/2-carat white gold ring.

“That’s when I realized it wasn’t about the money for me, and that no amount of money coming back would make me feel better,” he told People. “I thought that if I could pass it along to somebody who would appreciate it, that that might help me move on and feel better.”

And the coping process is well underway, as Crocker’s been inundated with emails and messages. However, he seems to be enjoying the process of reading all of the love stories people continue to send to him.

“It’s nice to hear about people having someone who has stuck by their side through hard times, or if they met in a unique way by chance. There are very different stories and it’s nice to hear that not everything has to happen online nowadays,” he told People.

Great love stories can lift any mood, so it makes sense that this isn’t the first time people have flooded the internet with tales of romance.

Once upon a time, Buzzfeed reporter Kat Angus asked all of Twitter to share stories of when they knew they’d found “the one.”

https://twitter.com/katangus/status/921924080940412929

Twitter was then filled with the sweetest stories of love at first sight and more. Some people even broke up with their significant others before realizing how in love they were:

Aren’t love stories the best?

So, this isn’t the first time the internet’s given people a reason to remember why they fell in love, and hopefully—it won’t be the last. In the meantime, we hope Crocker’s ring brings one loving couple so much joy!

RELATED: This man traveled across the world to surprise his girlfriend with the ultimate proposal: