Officer Lawrence DePrimo - Hero - New England Patriots Forums

***IcyPatriot*** · 11-29-2012, 06:01 PM

Photo of Officer Giving Boots to Barefoot Man Warms Hearts All Over Web - NYTimes.com

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On a cold November night in Times Square, Officer Lawrence DePrimo was working a counterterrorism post when he encountered an older, barefooted homeless man. The officer disappeared for a moment, then returned with a new pair of boots, and knelt to help the man put them on.

The act of kindness would have gone unnoticed and mostly forgotten, had it not been for a tourist from Arizona.

Her snapshot â€” taken with her cellphone on Nov. 14 and posted to the New York Police Departmentâ€™s official Facebook page late Tuesday â€” has made Officer DePrimo an overnight Internet hero.

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The officer, normally assigned to the Sixth Precinct in the West Village, readily recalled the encounter. â€œIt was freezing out and you could see the blisters on the manâ€™s feet,â€ he said in an interview. â€œI had two pairs of socks and I was still cold.â€ They started talking; he found out the manâ€™s shoe size: 12.

As the man walked slowly down Seventh Avenue on his heels, Officer DePrimo went into a Skechers shoe store at about 9:30 p.m. â€œWe were just kind of shocked,â€ said Jose Cano, 28, a manager working at the store that night. â€œMost of us are New Yorkers and we just kind of pass by that kind of thing. Especially in this neighborhood.â€

Mr. Cano volunteered to give the officer his employee discount to bring down the regular $100 price of the all-weather boots to a little more than $75. The officer has kept the receipt in his vest since then, he said, â€œto remind me that sometimes people have it worse.

RI Patriots fan · 11-29-2012, 06:21 PM

And no one will wonder why this homeless man didn't have shoes but had clothes and a jacket....hmmm.

As part of our outreach in Providence, we used to give away boots to the homeless. Over time, we noticed that the "need" for boots was increasing significantly. Guess why......the homeless were taking the boots we gave them and selling them to buy drugs and alcohol.

OMGWTFJUDD · 11-29-2012, 06:24 PM

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Originally Posted by RI Patriots fan

And no one will wonder why this homeless man didn't have shoes but had clothes and a jacket....hmmm.

As part of our outreach in Providence, we used to give away boots to the homeless. Over time, we noticed that the "need" for boots was increasing significantly. Guess why......the homeless were taking the boots we gave them and selling them to buy drugs and alcohol.

Hopefully you point is not that act's of kindness are a folly.

RI Patriots fan · 11-29-2012, 06:27 PM

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Originally Posted by OMGWTFJUDD

Hopefully you point is not that act's of kindness are a folly.

Spoken like someone who has never worked extensively with the homeless....

***IcyPatriot*** · 11-29-2012, 06:36 PM

Some people see the world as a hopeful place ... others look for negativity wherever they can find or create it. Even if 9 people took their shoes and sold them it's great that someone would buy shoes for the 10th person and hope he would use them. It should not be the governments job alone to care for our fellow man ... we have to keep trying.

OMGWTFJUDD · 11-29-2012, 06:41 PM

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Originally Posted by RI Patriots fan

Spoken like someone who has never worked extensively with the homeless....

And from this experience you draw the conclusion that helping them is a waste of time?

RI Patriots fan · 11-29-2012, 06:44 PM

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Originally Posted by IcyPatriot

Some people see the world as a hopeful place ... others look for negativity wherever they can find or create it. Even if 9 people took their shoes and sold them it's great that someone would buy shoes for the 10th person and hope he would use them. It should not be the governments job alone to care for our fellow man ... we have to keep trying.

Fine....then you waste your own time and money doing it. I did it for 5 years pretty much every week giving away both my time and my money until I finally saw the light (just like most of the volunteers did over time).

I'm curious...how many years have you worked with the homeless?

OMGWTFJUDD · 11-29-2012, 06:47 PM

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Originally Posted by RI Patriots fan

Fine....then you waste your own time and money doing it. I did it for 5 years pretty much every week giving away both my time and my money until I finally saw the light (just like most of the volunteers did over time).

I'm curious...how many years have you worked with the homeless?

I did it for about 4 years.

But I've seen the light, now I go around setting fire to them, much simpler and keeps me warm at night.

Warm inner glow replaced by warm outer glow.

RI Patriots fan · 11-29-2012, 06:48 PM

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Originally Posted by OMGWTFJUDD

And from this experience you draw the conclusion that helping them is a waste of time?

No, worse than a waste of time. We helped enable bad behavior.

If I had to do it over again, I would have focused on the very small minority who truly wanted to change.

***IcyPatriot*** · 11-29-2012, 06:51 PM

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Originally Posted by RI Patriots fan

Fine....then you waste your own time and money doing it. I did it for 5 years pretty much every week giving away both my time and my money until I finally saw the light (just like most of the volunteers did over time).

I'm curious...how many years have you worked with the homeless?

I've been donating my money to the homeless since the 80's RI. I always give money to the people at the Thurbers Ave lights ... and i have a few regulars who know me on Broad Street. My personal time I have not given except for gathering items for the Little Sisters of the Poor people ... my money I have given plenty ... and i don't question it's use.

There's plenty who have done way more than me ... and there's people who have done less ... i do what I can and i won't stop. What people like me give to them is not or will never change their life - but if it brings them comfort for even brief moments then i feel it's worth it. Money for food, booze, butts ... if they feel they need it then fine.