Rapper’s kindness atones for shoe thief

Rona Wignall noticed something she couldn’t ignore on her morning walk to work in Wellington – a man, seemingly homeless, without any shoes.

The man, who was only wearing socks with holes in them, was walking on what was becoming an increasingly hot sidewalk.

‘‘I just asked him where his shoes were, trying to be friendly, and he said he didn’t have any because while he was sleeping on the street someone stole them.

‘‘My initial thought was, who the hell steals a homeless person’s shoes, but more than that I thought I needed to get him some shoes.’’

During the conversation, Wignall – whose rap moniker is Arcee Rapper – estimated more than 20 people walked past, none of whom took a second glance.

Not satisfied with simply walking away, she organised to meet the man later at McDonald’s in Newtown to ‘‘sort something out’’.

Unsure how best to proceed, she took to social media, asking if anyone might be able to donate some spare, good quality shoes – not knowing what the response would be to the post.

Vic Deals, an online Wellington community group, came to her aid almost immediately with several people, primarily students, offering up their spare shoes.

On her lunch break, Wignall ended up getting three goodcondition pairs of sneakers, which she took to McDonald’s as planned.

‘‘The credit really goes to these lads who I found online.

‘‘There were so many who messaged me, it was amazing.

‘‘It was students who obviously aren’t the richest people, it’s not like I posted in

Wignall

‘‘It was people with not a lot of money who were still willing to give their shoes.’’

Wignall told the man about the number of people who had stepped up to help as well as the wellwishes that had been sent his way.

‘‘He was so happy that people cared enough. He lit up.’’

She said while it was awesome to be able to do something for the man, it was the outpouring of support online that was truly heartening to see.

‘‘You want to do more but you can’t. I’m a student so I can’t offer housing but this was the least me, and the people who gave their shoes, could do.

‘‘At the end of the day, I didn’t get a lunch break and I spent $8 on food for him.

‘‘How can you compare that to someone who doesn’t have shoes.’’