Despite his station in life, the man is a high-roller when it comes to philanthropy. For the past 36 years, Albert Lexie has taken every dime of his tip money from shining shoes and donated it to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh - more than $200,659 and counting.
Wall Street hedge fund manager and billionaire Paul Tudor Jones started the Robin Hood Foundation 25 years ago to inspire wealthy donors to give money to help impoverished New Yorkers. Since then, the charity has raised more than one and a quarter billion dollars.
For the last 25 years, the man known as Joe the Barber has been offering homeless people in Hartford, Connecticut free haircuts in the park. They walk away sporting a new look, but also with new pride. For payment? He'll take a hug.
A National Guardsman lost both legs in Iraq, but found a new mission helping others. It was a life-altering injury, but from the beginning, Dale Beatty had a positive attitude about it. Beatty created an organization Purple Heart Homes after a Builders Association -- of which he was a member -- helped him build a wheelchair-accessible home with wide doorways and roll-in bathrooms.
Richard A. Herman lived in the Watergate for more than 40 years and was a longtime patron of the arts, but the shy railroad heir was virtually unknown in Washington social circles for much of his long life. Family Matters of Greater Washington today announced that Herman, who died in November at 100, left the nonprofit organization 60 percent of his vast estate — $28 million, which the group says is one of the largest gifts ever to a local social service organization.
Albert Lexie, the longtime shoe shiner, has been giving back to others for years. He is Pittsburgh's hero in disguise. This man is a guardian angel who changes lives one dollar at a time. A shoe shine costs $5, but Lexie's customers have been generous with their tips and every cent goes to the hospital's children in need.
Tony Tolbert, a Harvard-educated lawyer in Los Angeles, decided to move into his mother's home so he could offer his own fully-furnished house to a homeless family of five, and give it to them rent-free for a year.
A couple who wished to remain anonymous purchased a minivan from Dick Hannah Toyota in Washington last week to donate to Portland Police Officer Paul Meyer and family after seeing news reports about Meyer's paralysis from an accident. A man contacted our dealership last week and told us he and his wife would like to purchase a Toyota Sienna minivan, wrote Brian Sanders, the car dealership's General Manager. They are paying cash for it, but they'll never sit behind the wheel. He and his wife are not wealthy, continued Sanders on the company's Facebook Page. They were both in the military and recently received a modest inheritance.
Going beyond his normal duties, a Kansas police officer responded to an elderly woman's house and ended up going grocery shopping for her and bringing back $50 worth of supplies, as well as a Christmas ham and poinsettia.
The Dearborn, Mo., couple who won a share of the largest jackpot in Powerball history plan to use their money to help a nearby community. Mark and Cindy Hill said they are helping Camden Point with new ball fields, firehouse and treatment plant.
Named an everyday Hero, Don Hanlon achieves that with a simple, but generous gesture. He walks in the doors and says, What do you need? Once each month for ten years Don has been talking trips to Sam's Club with people who are dealing with domestic violence and homelessness.
Pushpa Basnet, a Nepalese woman who runs a home for children so they don't have to live behind bars with their incarcerated parents, was named the 2012 CNN Hero of the Year on Sunday night. She was in her twenties when she started a home in Kathmandu where children can receive education, food, medical care and a chance to live a more normal life.
A policeman pulled over Hayden Carlo, 25, in Plano, Texas for an expired registration sticker. Carlo said he's been struggling to support his wife and two small children and had to choose between registration for his car and food for his children. The officer handed him a citation but when Carlo opened it, he broke down in tears.
Every afternoon and night, the Brooklyn man stuffs his red sack to the brim with presents and heads out to storm-ravaged homes. He is personally delivering new toys to awestruck little kids whose play rooms were destroyed by floodwaters.
A 25-year-old dynamo who has been feeding hot meals to hundreds of families every day since Staten Island, NY was hit by Hurricane Sandy was named a Holiday Hero for her extraordinary service. Food is not the only thing that Cat Guarnieri has been supplying to Sandy victims.
Matthew Petronis sat in his dorm room on Oct. 29, watching TV in horror as his childhood home burned down. He felt helpless that night -- but not for long. Only a few hours later, Petronis set up the first fundraiser to help the neighborhood.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, New Yorkers are flocking to Rockaway Park to help one another out. The low-income Brooklyn housing project is still without power but a bakery and dairy truck are bringing free deliveries for the families.
John Turner, who owns a Chicago business specializing in pumping water and cleaning out buildings following disasters, traveled to the East Coast immediately after Hurricane Sandy hit. Turner was shocked by the devastation and even emptied out flooded homes free of charge after seeing how some families without flood insurance were completely wiped out. It must have felt like a reward from heaven when he bought a lottery ticket in New Jersey and it turned out to be a $100,000 winner.
An 80-year-old Utah man arrived on the East Coast Monday to help feed evacuees from Hurricane Sandy. Vern Gillmore, who says his hobby is volunteering, joins other Good Samaritans from around the country and Canada leaving their warm homes and heading into the eye of the storm to help neighbors they've never met.
Elkhart, Indiana was hit pretty hard by the recession of 2008. But now, things will run a lot smoother, after Hollywood producer David Gundlach bequeathed his entire personal fortune to the Elkhart community foundation, which supports the county. Museums, parks and senior care facilities will all benefit from the $125 million dollar gift.
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