Some people will give the shirt off their back, but this New York woman gave the shoes right off her feet to help a barefoot homeless woman better cope with cold city streets.

Kay Brown was riding the subway home from work when she saw the woman step onto her train car. Without anything covering her feet, the woman was crossing her toes trying to keep them warm.

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Brown said later she just couldn't let the moment go by. She took off her favorite boots and handed them to the woman, who began to cry as she put them on.

"Yeah, I loved those boots, but it's not like they weren't replaceable," Brown told the New York Daily News. "What's a pair of shoes, or a few hours out of your day, to go help other people?"

Only afterward did she notice she had worn mismatched socks — thin ones that weren't built to handle a six-block walk home from the subway. A man who had witnessed the generosity pulled some thick gym socks from his duffle bag and gave them to her, in a chain reaction of kindness.

When a sporting goods store heard about her generous act, it offered her a shopping spree. Brown took them up on the offer, then took her reward of shoes, fleece jackets, and other clothes and donated it all to a women's shelter.

(WATCH the video below from WLWT News) — Photos: Kay Brown, Facebook