Subway rider approached homeless man who looked like 'he had just gotten beat up' — then stunned him by taking off his shirt
A small gesture can make a lot of difference for a person in need of kindness. In 2016, a young man on a New York Subway did just that when he saw a homeless man who looked cold and beaten up. The young man, Joey Resto, wanted to help the homeless man in some way, and as he could not do anything else right then, he ended up giving his shirt off his back so the person could have something to wear, per ABC News.
The then-23-year-old Resto was taking the downtown "A" train to get to his home in Brooklyn after work. When he got on the train, he noticed a homeless man sitting on one of the seats without a shirt and shivering. "He looked cold, hungry...like he had just gotten beat up," Resto explained. The temperature was around 45 degrees that day. Resto immediately decided to give the shirt he was wearing to the man. As he noticed the man was shivering pretty badly and could not lift his arms up, he helped him put on the shirt by getting his arms in the armholes one by one. "He looked so weak and frail. I had to help him, or he would not put it on."
Resto also put his hat on the man's head, which looked bruised. He offered the man to come to his family's home, have a warm meal, and get more clothes, but the man fell asleep before his stop came, even though he had accepted the offer. Resto wished he could have given him something more or something warmer before he got down. Meanwhile, another passenger on the subway, Lazaro Nolas, was able to get a video of the incident and posted Resto's act of kindness on Facebook. "It just came from the heart. I don't know how anyone could have walked past him and had extra clothing and not given it to him," Resto said, per ABC News.
Resto's girlfriend, Yanisleidy Martinez, shared that she was not surprised by the incident as her boyfriend was a naturally caring and kind person. "Everyone just gives money. This time, he did something different." The couple usually gave food and money to homeless people whenever they could. "He noticed something was wrong when other people were just staring and he did something about it," Martinez pointed out. Resto tried to wake the man up when he was about to get off at his stop, but he was in a deep slumber. He asked people for any possible contact with the man, so he could take him for a coffee.
"He just decided to give the clothing that he had on his back. He didn't have much, but he gave it to this guy, who needed it much more than him," Martinez told Inside Edition. "I thought it was pretty amazing." Resto encouraged people to do something if they saw something wrong instead of just staring. People shared their thoughts on the incident in the comments. @MsHondas1 wrote, "Many people think the lottery changes your life, but helping someone who really needs it will change your life." @hannahmorgan7675 commented, "That made me cry. I think more people should be as kind as that man."