Teen offers his brand new shoes to homeless man, prompts donation drive
Photo Courtesy: Purpme
LOUISVILLE, Ky (KTVU) - A Kentucky teen is being recognized for his spontaneous act of kindness after he took his brand new shoes off his own feet and handed it to a homeless man.
14-year-old LaRon Tunstill, who also goes by Ron Ron, was volunteering his time as part of a homeless outreach program over Labor Day, when one particular man caught his attention.
Ron Ron went over to him, sat down beside him, started up a conversation, and that's when he noticed the tattered shoes on the man's feet.
The teen then took his one day old Nike Air Jordans off and gave them to the man.
The man was first hesitant to accept the gift, but eventually took the shoes, after Ron Ron encouraged him to go for it.
"That's what real is," reacted the man to the teen's gift.
Ron Ron simply said it was an act of love.
The teen's generosity came during an outing with the nonprofit, PurpMe. The group's mission is to encourage and facilitate acts to help the community "uplift one another."
Founder Jason Reynolds took a photo of the moment between Ron Ron and the homeless man and shared it on the organization's Facebook page.
The picture was captioned, "While other 14 year olds are shooting and joining gangs Ron Ron is living out his purpose in life."
The post has been shared more than 8,600 times.
PurpMe said Ron Ron comes from a rough area of town, where shootings are not that uncommon.
The streets affected him and Reynolds said before the teen began working with the group, he was very different.
But he has since made a complete turnaround.
Giving up his shoes to help someone else "is normal everyday life" for Ron Ron and the other inner city kids the group works with, according to Reynolds.
Ron Ron's act of kindness has spurred PurpMe to launch a GoFundMe page.
The group says 100 percent of donations will go toward helping more kids like Ron Ron.