BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. – You’ve heard of people giving others the shirts off their backs. A Minnesota liquor store employee gave her sneakers to a man wearing boxes on his feet.
Ta Leia Thomas, who recently started working at Brooklyn Center Liquors in suburban Minneapolis, it was a no-brainer. When a man came into the store on Tuesday looking for boxes to use as makeshift footwear, Thomas sprang into action, according to a Facebook post.
She caught up with the man and gave him her own sneakers, a pair of purple Nike Air Jordans.
“I see his feet and I just automatically took my shoes off,” Thomas told WCCO-TV. “He said, ‘Nobody would ever give me shoes like that.’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m not everybody.’”
No wonder Thomas is nicknamed “Ace.”
The good deed was captured on the store’s security cameras,
“I came back from lunch on Tuesday and Ace is helping customers and helping people out in her socks,” store manager Tom Agnes told the television station.
Thomas said it was an easy decision.
“I was always taught to help others,” she told WCCO. “You never know what their problem is, or what they are going through.”
Agnes bought Thomas a new pair of sneakers to finish her shift and raised $450 so the employee could buy a new pair of Nikes. Before doing that, he noticed something Thomas posted on social media.
“She kept posting on social media about her mom that she wants to take care of her mom and I said, ‘What’s going on with your mom, Ace?’ She said, ‘She’s all I have in this world. I take care of her, she doesn’t have a bed. So, she sleeps in my bed, and I sleep on the floor,’” Agnes told WCCO. “And I’m like, ‘Ah. We don’t need to get Ace a pair of shoes, we need to get Ace a bed. So, I gave her cash instead of the shoes to get mom a bed.”
‘Tis the season. Thomas’ act of generosity received hundreds of likes and shares on social media from the liquor store’s post.
“This is a true example of empathy, compassion, and holiday cheer,” the liquor store posted on Facebook. “We can all appreciate a story like this during the holiday season.”
