Tag Archives: police officer gives homeless NYC man shoes

Homeless barefoot man who received shoes not really homeless

by on Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 9:31 AM | Comment

Jeffrey Hillman, the “shoeless, homeless” man originally immortalized in this now-viral photo, is neither shoeless nor homeless. Discuss.

The Daily News ran an update on Monday that noted that the 54-year-old “Hillman has an apartment in the Bronx paid for through a combination of federal Section 8 rent vouchers and Social Security disability and veterans benefits…. But nevertheless, the now-famous nomad has continued to panhandle and cling to the cold streets of Gotham.” Whether Hillman has a butler is not revealed.

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Homeless NYC man shoeless again, now demanding ‘piece of the pie’

by on Monday, December 3, 2012 at 2:23 PM | 17 Comments

News-making street denizen Jeffrey Hillman has just begun his third 15 minutes of Warholian fame. Hillman became the poster boy for charity and good will toward men back in mid-November when a kindhearted New York City police officer bought him a $100 pair of boots at a Skechers outlet.

Jeffrey Hillman (courtesy of Robert Caplin, New York Times)

Hillman made headlines again this past Saturday, when it was reported that his estranged family learned for the first time about his plight as a homeless man by reading about it in the New York Post.

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Man reads human interest story, learns for first time his brother is homeless

by on Sunday, December 2, 2012 at 11:04 AM | Comment

Those who worry about the dissolution of the family as a social unit may have something to worry about. Just ask Kirk Hillman, of Allentown, Pa. It was not until he read a feel-good story in the news that Hillman learned that his own brother had fallen on hard times.

His brother’s homelessness was news to him.

The story, which Hillman saw for the first time yesterday, focuses on a kind-hearted New York City police officer giving a homeless man a pair of boots for the winter. It was this viral photograph of the barefooted vagrant that stopped Hillman in his tracks. He immediately recognized the figure seated on the ground as his brother, Jeffrey.

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