Free Press
Bus driver walks the (charity) walk
Giving away shoes to homeless man is second nature to Good Samaritan
Winnipeg Transit driver Kris Doubledee gave his leather shoes to a homeless man. He doesn’t consider it a selfless act. He says anyone would do the same.
Winnipeg’s most famous bus driver claims he didn’t do anything remarkable when he pulled his bus over Tuesday morning, hopped off and gave a homeless man his shoes. He habitually helps people and believes the rest of us do the same.
“I just do it because you’ve got two arms and two legs and you use them every day. You’ve got one heart and you should use it every day, too,” Kris Doubledee said Wednesday night.
Doubledee, 38, was driving the No. 24 bus down Portage Avenue near Fort Street early Tuesday morning when he spotted the barefoot man on the sidewalk. He’d seen him the day before, shoeless.
“I just couldn’t imagine him going through that,” Doubledee said. “It was cold, maybe seven degrees and he was barefoot. I had to help him. Anyone would have done it.”
He pulled the bus over and got out to speak to the man. He estimates the stranger to be in his mid-40s, with shoulder-length hair worn in dreadlocks.
The homeless man may have already sold the shoes or had them stolen. That doesn’t matter to Doubledee. He saw a need and he handed over his good leather shoes to fill it. He’ll do it again if he sees a need.
FP
As a matter of fact the homeless man was without shoes 3 hours later. I was walking down Graham avenue at 11am when I noticed a vagrant with dreadlocks in front of me walking barefoot down the sidewalk. I was somewhat taken aback, as most street vagrants usually have shoes of some kind. I didn’t give him my shoes, but I did feel a strong sense of sympathy for the poor street person.
It was only when the Free Press finally published a description of the homeless man did I realize it was the same guy. He must have sold the shoes, lost them or had them taken away. It doesn’t matter. The charity expressed by Doubledee was an amazing act.
As for the homeless fellow, he needs to be taken to a medical facility, evaluated and given some support.
Markosun
No you dint. I saw the dreadlocked bum with the shoes 2 hours ago on portage and main. Stop being an asspipe.
Learn to spell you cretin. The dreadlocked bum was bare foot 3 hours after the reported shoe giveaway. Maybe he had em stashed. But buddy, no need to start name calling and get nasty.