Minneapolis — Nothing gets past Minneapolis Metro Transit bus driver Jayne Arendt-Verhelst on her bus.
But last month, Arendt-Verhelst noticed a problem outside of it. Her bus was approaching an intersection when she saw a woman standing in the middle of the street waving her down. Even though the woman wasn’t at a bus stop, Arendt-Verhelst broke policy, pulled over and let her board.
“When I opened up the door, that’s when I really saw her,” Arendt-Verhelst told CBS News. “I saw her from head to toe and I was just like, wow.”
The woman, who appeared to be homeless, wasn’t wearing any shoes.
“I can’t imagine what it’s like walking around with bare feet on the hot pavement,” Arendt-Verhelst said. “And just, nobody sees you. She’s just kind of invisible, you know?”
But she was not invisible to Arendt-Verhelst, who immediately took the shoes off her own feet and gave them to her.
“I knew that you’re not supposed to drive in your socks, it’s a big no-no, but I couldn’t help it,” said Arendt-Verhelst, who has been a bus driver with Metro Transit for 18 years.
After her good deed, she contacted a supervisor from the bus to inform her of the unplanned stop.
“And I told her what I did. And she (the supervisor) said, ‘Well, you don’t have far back to the garage, so continue.’ I’m like, ‘OK,’” Arendt-Verhelst recounted.
Several riders witnessed that moment, but perhaps no one was more touched by it than passenger Sarah Seldon, who had been homeless before and knew how meaningful a simple kindness can be.
“It really, like, affected me because it was like, oh my gosh, she sees this woman,” Seldon said.
Often, we’re told to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. But in certain moments, it’s even more important to let that someone stand in ours.
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