Roofers in a park found a homeless man sleeping on a bench. The men were working on a nearby house and offered the man a cup of tea for a little help. The man obliged, and came back for more.
One of the roofers said the man, known only as John, was very eager for the opportunity of work. JayJay Murray, one of the roofers, explained it all in a Facebook post.
“We started a new job in London on a high road this week where this homeless man called John was living on a bench in the local park,” Murray explained.
“We brought him a cup of tea early in the morning and offered him to come and help the next day. He was first on site and worked non-stop. I have never seen anyone so happy to be at work.”
John only asked the workers for about $20, which he said would ‘get him through the week’. The workers treated John to lunch at the local Burger King and gave him $90 out of their own pockets.
They were impressed by his work ethic. By about 1 p.m., they presented John with his pay, and he was over the moon.
“His gratitude was a real eye-opener. Keep going John got to be something good around the corner. Nobody willing to work should be living on the streets,” said Murray on Facebook.
“Thanks brothers, it’s the most love I’ve ever had,” John told the roofers.
The men have invited John to come back and help them out again. Many people on Facebook have been praising them for their kindness in offering John an opportunity.
They’ve also been praising John for being willing to work.
All too often, homeless people get slapped with labels like ‘lazy’ and ‘freeloader’. When a homeless person declines to work for money, the stories tend to make headlines far and wide, giving a lot of people a negative impression of those down on their luck.
There are many homeless people, however, who would jump at the chance for work. In a 1999 U.S. HUD study, nearly half of all homeless people said the thing they needed most was help finding a job.
There are even homeless people who have jobs, but unfortunately those jobs are so low-paying that they’re unable to afford a permanent residence. They drift from sofa to sofa when they can, occasionally rent a room on cold nights, and may spend some nights in shelters or on the streets.
The fact is, it’s just not that easy to find a job when you don’t have a permanent address. It’s hard to keep a job when you don’t have a place to shower and change clothes, and when you don’t have a place to lay your weary head at night.
The more time that’s passed between a person and the last job they held makes it more and more difficult to attract employers. On top of that, most homeless people suffer with disabilities, mental illness or addiction—all of which can make it difficult to find and maintain employment.
It’s these kinds of challenges that often leave them on the streets in the first place.
John’s story has gone viral. “That restores my faith in humanity. What kindness shown to a complete stranger,” wrote one Facebook commenter. “Those great guys may have changed the homeless man’s life forever.”
The roofers’ employer chimed in as well. “We can’t believe how this selfless gesture from the Empire team has gone so far,” said a spokesperson for the Hertfordshire roofing company. “We couldn’t be prouder of the team, well done boys.”
