Illinois woman after sharing emotional subway photo of homeless man, Facebook posts about it go viral

Chicago’s Jessica Bell shared the touching moment a homeless man boarded public transit.

The post went viral as it garnered many comments, shares, and likes.

It began when a homeless man boarded Chicago’s public transit system at night as freezing winds and a snowstorm swept the city. Jessica knew right away that he was having trouble keeping his feet warm and dry.

“So I’m driving home on the CTA Redline and there’s a homeless man sitting across from me,” Jessica wrote. “He’s older, weathered and minding his own business. His feet are so swollen that he wears his tattered sneakers with the heel down like slippers. I don’t know how many pairs of socks he wears to keep his feet warm, but blood is seeping through.”

Then she noticed a young man.

“There’s another man on the other side of the door; He is younger, carries a bag and suitcase, and also minds his own business. He is wearing a pair of large black snow boots. You look new; they look expensive; They’re built for a winter in Chicago,” she wrote.

“Quietly, in the blink of an eye and you’ll miss it, the younger man takes off the boots he’s wearing and hands them to the old man. He opens his suitcase and also gives him a pair of socks. The young man puts on a pair of spare shoes from the suitcase. These shoes are nice too, but not as nice as the boots. They would have suited the old man just as well, but they weren’t what this old man needed.”

Jessica continued to watch the exchange. “He tells the old man to try to clean his feet and make sure he changes into the new socks as soon as possible and then the young man gets off at 87th. Those of us close enough to see and hear the exchange are blown away,” she said. “The shoes off your feet.”

Bell shared two photos of the older man putting on the boots, and the homeless man later told Jessica the boots were a huge relief because he was afraid his feet were freezing from the cold.