"Even after nearly a quarter of a century, Albert remains motivated by one thing: to help families in a time of need."
—Roger Oxendale,Children's Hospital President and CEO
Every Tuesday and Thursday for more than 30 years, Albert Lexie has left his home at 5:50 a.m. to travel 90 minutes by bus to the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. When he arrives, he sets up his shoeshine box in the lobby and gets to work, charging $3 per shine.
Albert’s earnings allow him to live on an annual income of about $10,000. Yet, astonishingly, he donates approximately $10,000 a year to the hospital.
Despite living within very modest means, Albert gives every penny of his tips to the hospital’s Children's Free Care Fund, which ensures that all children receive medical care, regardless of a family's financial ability to pay for it. Since 1982, he has donated more than $200,000 of his hard-earned tips to the Children’s Hospital.
He has been featured on local and national news, received numerous awards, and even has published a book, “Albert’s Kids, The Heroic Work of Shining Shoes for Sick Children.” Yet through his fame, Albert continues to do what he does best. He shows up at the hospital, shines shoes—and provides a brilliant example of the way to give, love and live.
To the children and family he has helped over the years, and to everyone he encounters, Albert is an everyday hero. With his diligence, his humility and his loving kindness, he embodies the value of charity.
This billboard about Charity features Albert Lexie; shoe shine shop operator, philanthropist.
