A humble man is being praised for his spontaneous gesture to help uplift a homeless woman going through a difficult time.
In a viral video of the encounter, the man, who’s been identified as Daniel Roose, can be seen withdrawing money from an ATM in Perth, Australia, and handing it to the woman, whose name is Jess. Roose gave her the money so she could buy a plane ticket to see her family in New Zealand, according to Siham Carollisen, the person who filmed the video.
Carollisen is one of the people behind Brothers and Sisters Perth, a group that helps local homeless people. The group recently shared her footage of the good deed on Facebook.
“We need more people like you in this world, mate,” Carollisen tells Roose in the video.
“I’m just a simple person,” Roose says as he walks away.
“All I had to do is walk to a teller machine and back. ... Everyone can dig deep, or do something small, to help someone out,” Roose told local outlet WAtoday of his act of kindness, which has gone viral across social media.
Roose had spotted Jess from across the street and noticed that many people were passing the woman and others didn’t even look at her, he told New Zealand TV show “Seven Sharp.”
Roose ended up listening to her story and felt compelled to take action. He explained that it wasn’t his place to make assumptions about Jess’ life and wanted to approach her from a place of understanding.
“Everyone has bad demons or bad experiences in life, and people just judge and look from afar, they never really try to get to know the person,” Roose told news network Perth Now. “A lot of people say homeless people are lazy or this and that but I just don’t think people know what they wake up to everyday.”
Jess had been speaking with Carollisen just before the sweet interaction with Roose went down, according to Perth Now. Carollisen learned that the homeless woman had been estranged from her family for a while, but that she’d recently reconnected with them and was hoping to collect enough money to get back to New Zealand.
Jess isn’t a resident of Australia, according to a Facebook post by Brothers and Sisters Perth, and because of that, she’s not eligible for “any income support.”
While it’s not confirmed as to how the woman ultimately used the money, Roose just hopes the funds helped make a difference in her life.
“I wish her all the best, I gave her the money, she does what she needs to do with it and I hope she’s doing the right thing,” he told Seven Sharp.