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PITTSBURGH — Albert Lexie has been shining shoes since 1957, and since 1982, he has given away hundreds of thousands of dollars in tips to a children's hospital.
For the last 31 years, Lexie has worked as a shoeshiner at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. During his tenure as the hospital's shoeshiner, he has donated $200,000 in tips to the hospital for sick children.
Since 1982, Lexie has come to the hospital every Tuesday and Thursday to shine shoes, leaving his home in Monessen at 5:50 a.m. to arrive with his shoe shine box by 7:25 a.m. He still uses the shoe shine box he built at age 15 in high school shop class.
According to the hospital, he only earns about $10,000 a year for his $5 shoe shines. Each week, he donates hundreds of dollars in tips to the hospital's Free Care Fund, which helps patients — whom he affectionately calls "Albert's Kids" — receive medical attention whether or not their parents can pay.
Lexie said most people give him a $1 or $2 for a tip, though some regularly give $5 or $7. For Christmas, one doctor gave him a $50.
"It's good to be a hero," Lexie told Pittsburgh TV station WTAE.
The shoeshiner has earned several awards for his charity work. In 1997, he received a Jefferson Medal for Outstanding Citizen. The Foundation for a Better Life honored his charity with billboards. And in 2006 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Caring Americans.
