I posted a portrait of Ramon on Christmas Day. In the caption,...

I posted a portrait of Ramon on Christmas Day. In the caption, Ramon explained the difficulties of being homeless and disabled. He had been living at a shelter for several months— a tough situation made even tougher by his lack of mobility. Everyone was quite moved by his story, and seeing that it was Christmas and all, we launched a holiday fundraiser to get Ramon out of the shelter and into an apartment. But after three minutes, Ramon texted me, and said: “Thank you so much, really, but I feel that there are other people who need the money more, so I’d like to figure things out on my own.” Given Ramon’s situation, it was a pretty heroic display of self-reliance. 

Yesterday I brought Ramon the $800 that had been raised in the first few minutes of the fundraiser, which he graciously agreed to accept so that he could buy a bed. And he very happily reported that he was now out of the shelter, and had found an affordable place in Brooklyn to share with his three brothers, one of whom is pictured here.