Good Samaritan Gives Shirt Off His Back to Homeless Man on NYC Train
He even helped the shivering man put the shirt on.
— -- Thousands of homeless people walk the streets of New York City, but that doesn't stop one Good Samaritan from doing what he can for the needy, even if it means literally giving the shirt off his back.
Joey Resto, 23, was taking the downtown "A" train to his home in Brooklyn after work this past Friday when he noticed a homeless man without a shirt shivering from the cold. At the time, temperatures in the city were hovering around 45 degrees, he told ABC News.
"He looked cold, hungry...like he had just gotten beat up," Resto told ABC News today.
Next, the native New Yorker said he did what he "thought was right." Not only did he take the shirt off his back and offer it to the man, he helped him put it on, looping the man's raised hands through the shirt's armholes.
"He looked so weak and frail," Resto told ABC-owned station WABC in New York. "I had to help him, or he would not put it on."
Resto then placed his hat on the man's bruised head and invited him to his family's home to have a warm meal, hot coffee and to offer him more clothes. Although the man accepted Resto's offer, he fell asleep before the train reached his stop.
Little did Resto know, his entire act of kindness was caught on video by a fellow passenger on the subway and was posted to Facebook. It has been shared more than 260,000 times and has garnered more than 300,000 "likes." The video has been viewed more than 13 million times.
"It just came from the heart," Resto said. "I don’t know how anyone could have walked past him and had extra clothing and not given it to him."
Despite giving the man what he could, Resto said he "still felt bad" and wished he could have given him something warmer.
Resto's girlfriend, 24-year-old Yanisleidy Martinez told ABC News that she wasn't surprised that Resto's act of kindness got such good feedback, because he's naturally a "giving" and "caring" person.
"Everyone just gives money," she said. "This time he did something different."
The altruistic couple, who have been dating for more than a year, said they usually offer food or some cash to homeless people, when they can.
"He noticed something was wrong when other people were just staring, and he did something about it," Martinez said of Resto's latest good deed.
Resto said that he tried to wake the man up once the train reached his stop, but he "didn't want to disturb" him. He asks that anyone with information on the man or the person who took the video to contact him so he can treat them to a coffee.
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