Walmart Worker Gives His Own Shoes To Homeless Man

LITHIA SPRINGS, GA — A Walmart worker in Lithia Springs gave his own shoes away to a homeless man last week, drawing compliments and attention for the employee's generosity.

Phil Bravin Powell made the selfless gesture Friday afternoon while he was working.

Myrna Kines was shopping at the store and saw what he did, stopping to snap a photo of Powell once he was back inside.

"I just witnessed this young man take the shoes off of his feet and give them to a man that needed them at Walmart on Thornton Rd in Lithia Springs," Kines wrote in a Facebook post. "His name is Phil. I will be contacting Walmart Corporate to tell them they have an awesome employee! Please share!!"

Kines' post caught the attention of Powell's manager, Mike Kastensmidt, who shared the post and filled in the blanks about what happened next — shedding some light on why Powell had been so generous.

"Phil, a young man, explained to me that he had been homeless for most of his life and knew how that man felt," Kastensmidt wrote. "I told Phil that was a tremendous gesture and that the world needed a lot more of them."

Kastensmidt said he took Powell to the store's shoe department and told him to pick out any pair he wanted.

"He chose a $13 pair of slippers. That's all he 'needed'," Kastensmidt wrote. "I learned a lesson from this selfless act today. Great job, Phil."

Powell's mother, Brenda Patterson, contacted Hines on Facebook, saying that her son has a "heart of gold."

The shoes Powell gave away were a pair of pink and white Converse. Patterson said he wore them as a tribute to his grandmother, who had breast cancer, according to a WSB-TV report.

The photo of Powell that Kines shared shows him wearing pink socks. He wears those for the same reason, Patterson told the station.

Photo courtesy Myrna Kines via Facebook

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