An 18-year-old in Maricopa, Arizona, gave an elderly stranger the shoes off his own feet outside a Walgreens, bought him candy and lunch, and stayed to talk after learning the man’s wife had died two weeks earlier.
Jordan Hope, a recent high school graduate, was on his way to the bank on Sunday when he noticed the man walking in the parking lot.
The man’s shoes were barely on his feet.
“I looked at his feet and his shoes were like maybe a fourth on his foot,” Hope told AZFamily.
“I just felt like God told me to go over there, turn around and just give him some new slides. So I took off my own shoes. I gave them to him, and I just felt like I brought maybe a peace in his life.”
🚨 THIS IS THE AMERICA THE MEDIA NEVER SHOWS YOU.
An 18-year-old named Jordan Hope saw an elderly man, Mr. Roy, struggling to walk outside a Walgreens in Maricopa, Arizona. He didn’t scroll past. He stepped in and gave Mr. Roy the shoes off his own feet.
Jordan learned that Mr. Roy had recently lost his wife. Now he says the two of them are going to have dinner together and go to church together.
He has also raised $15,000 to keep Mr. Roy on his feet. His message is simple: be kind, because you never know what someone is going through.
They keep telling us this generation is lost. Jordan Hope just proved them wrong.
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) October 12, 2026
This is the kind of story that restores your faith in the next generation. Jordan Hope, 18, saw an 80 year old widower struggling in worn out shoes, gave him the ones off his own feet, and bought him dinner. He says he felt God telling him to go talk to the man. That is loving your neighbor exactly the way Jesus taught us. God bless this young man!
— Jakob Simmons (@JakobASimmons) October 11, 2026
Yareli Madrid filmed the exchange and posted it to a local Facebook page.
“Watching this young man take the shoes off his own feet and give them to an older man who needed them truly touched my heart,” she wrote.
“What makes it even more special is that he did it without anyone watching, without cameras, without expecting recognition or praise.”
As the clip spread, someone who recognized Hope as a former student helped identify him.
“I had no idea,” Hope said of learning he had been filmed. “And then the next day after I found out that it was on Facebook, I was like, whoa.”
Humanity Exists:
Jordan Hope, 18yo, gave sneakers off his own feet to elderly Mister Roy in Maricopa.
He didn’t know bystander Yareli Madrid was filming this selfless act.
Yareli Madrid
FOX 10 Phoenix https://t.co/5POPVIyiI5— Dr. Subhash (@Subhash_LiveS) October 15, 2026
Hope drove off, then turned around. He found the man inside the Walgreens trying to buy candy and paid for it.
That is when he learned the man’s wife had died just two weeks earlier.
“That honestly broke my heart,” Hope said. “I just think he needed a friend.”
He offered lunch at Culver’s. A medical condition that causes leg swelling made it hard for the man to get into Hope’s car.
Should acts of kindness like Jordan’s be highlighted more in the media?
Hope called a rideshare, met him at the restaurant, picked up the food, followed him home, and stayed to talk.
“So he didn’t feel that loneliness, you know?” Hope said.
Hope has checked in by phone with the man every day since.
A GoFundMe for the man, referred to as Mr. Roy, raised about $1,000 in its first day. Hope said he wanted the funds to go toward groceries and other expenses.
The fundraiser has now raised over $23,000.
Maricopa,Az Jordan Hope gives a eldery man literally the shoes off his feet.
Hats off to you, young man. Jordan has raised more than $15,000 to help him out. The man just recently lost his wife.
Jordan says, be kind to others as you don’t know what they’re going through. https://t.co/LFGoxr2tlS— Terri of Maricopa Az (@Terri111714841) October 12, 2026
Hope credited his parents, his youth pastor, and his faith.
“It wasn’t something out of my comfort zone,” he said. “I knew a tug pulled on my heart, and it was definitely from God… He interrupted my plans for that day to carry on his plans.”
Hope runs a computer-building business in Maricopa and Casa Grande, and said he plans to keep building it while staying active at his church.
“People say that this newer generation is just like they don’t care, you know? But I don’t believe that,” he said. “I believe that we’re hungrier and we just want to help as much as we can, and we need to be that light.”
People magazine also carried the video. Hope’s line was simple: “I’m just a man trying to spread positivity in the Lord’s work.”
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