Posted on 12/03/2012 6:52:06 AM PST by rightwingintelligentsia
The barefoot homeless man who was given a pair of shoes by a kind-hearted beat cop is wandering the streets shoeless again.
Jeffrey Hillman, 54, was spotted panhandling on the upper West Side Sunday without the $100 boots NYPD Officer Lawrence DePrimo bought for him on a frigid November night in Times Square.
“Those shoes are hidden,” Hillman told The New York Times after he was spotted walking around with no shoes on Broadway near W. 79th St. “They are worth a lot of money. I could lose my life.”
A tourist from Arizona snapped a cell phone photo of DePrimo giving the boots to Hillman on Nov. 14, and the picture quickly went viral, making the selfless cop a national celebrity.
“I appreciate what the officer did, don’t get me wrong. I wish there were more people like him in the world,” Hillman said.
“I want to thank everyone that got onto this thing. I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart. It meant a lot to me. And to the officer, first and foremost.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
More likely traded for booze.
Easy come easy go.
A profound irony I suppose.
I was betting, in my head, that the guy would sell them or have them stolen from him.
I had the odds in my head of
70% sell
20% have them stolen
10% keep
Goes to show that poverty isn’t just a financial condition, it’s a state a mind.
for later
I like to help, but I am VERY cautious. I’ll help at soup kitchens, where they eat the food right there and you know it is helping. I helped one guy regularly for several months, where I would get buy-one-get-one-free sandwiches from a major chain (I had a hundred coupons) and give the guy one of the two sandwiches - and he would start eating it as soon as I handed it to him. Give a homeless person anything that can be re-sold? Not in my opinion a good idea.
He knows that more people will give booze money to a shoeless bum. That said, the young cop will still have done a kind deed.....but he should have given that $100 to the Salvation Army for a more effective use of his money.
http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/homeless-man-shoeless-again-in-nyc-despite-boots-1.4286136
According to this story the “homeless” man (homeless by choice as his siblings have said their homes are open to him) is demanding his “piece of the pie”
“He says he’s grateful for the gift, but he wants “a piece of the pie” because the photo was posted online “without permission.”
Gotta love the Democrat base.
“Some people are rich . . . because they work for it. Other people are poor . . . because they work for it.”
Swami Chidvilasananda
When I worked in Manhattan, I always stopped and dropped off a sandwich and cup of coffee for someone. Never gave money.
For years at the terminus of Market and California streets in San Francisco by the Hyatt, you could witness an African-American panhandler begging in a gold and red 49er’s varsity style jacket. It was not a temporary gig for this scam artist as I found out when I noticed that he “commuted” to work from Oakland on the BART mass transit.
We have had several people drop by my church asking for help.
When you offer them food or a ride to where they are going they refuse and want cash then get mad when you don’t give it to them.
but he should have given that $100 to the Salvation Army for a more effective use of his money.”
...I disagree. $100 doesn’t go very far. But a “YouTube” video of a cop trying to help a homeless man is priceless. It went viral. I don’t give nor do I encourage giving to homeless people. I give to the SA. I do believe in the Christmas spirit and that gesture by the cop got mine re-lit.
Years ago a family member ran a coffee franchise, gave a bum some muffins when he was begging for money for food. The guy threw them out as soon as he left - he went back and caught him at it.
Know quite a few homeless. Unfortunately, most are homeless because they don’t want to live by anyone’s rules. Drugs, alcohol, simple selfishness. But there are ones who really have just fallen on horrid times, and there are always the mentally ill, who simply can’t function in society.
They well be gone, sold or traded in a couple of days.
If this guy wanted shoes he would have a pair.
The officer should have saved himself some $ by getting the bum a pair of old shoes and socks from a Goodwill store.
I’ve dealt with drug addicts and drunks enough to know that “They’re hidden” means “I sold them”.
The shoeless man is likely chemically dependent, mentally ill or both and his actions in no way diminish the selfless act of kindness done by that police officer.
The problem with homelessness is that it's not a simple problem. I suspect this guy is mentally ill. The article says his brother would welcome him into the home, but he's chosen the lifestyle. While I only looked at him shuffling down the sidewalk for a few minutes, I'd guess his ability to choose is severely limited.
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