“You give him my regards and tell him to work hard. I know it’s not easy out there.”

This is the message Donald Trump sent to Paul Lyons, the homeless Kamloops man featured in a Kamloops This Week photo and story in September.

In the piece, KTW photographer Dave Eagles caught Lyons reading Trump: The Art of the Deal.

The story and photo first caught the attention of local reader Audrey Karpoff, who — despite skepticism from her husband and daughter — clipped the article, put it in an envelope and sent it to Trump’s executive offices in Manhattan.

That bit of inspiration set off a chain of like-minded actions.

Someone in Trump’s Fifth Avenue offices opened the envelope, looked at the article and was inspired to send it up the chain to Trump himself.

Trump was inspired to take action, sending Eagles a cheque made out to Lyons for $1,000 and a letter requesting the money be forwarded to the man.

And now Ken Salter, an outreach worker in Kamloops who helps the homeless, is hoping the windfall will inspire Lyons to use it to get himself some housing and not continue to live in the cardboard box behind a transformer downtown.

Trump said Lyons’ story touched him — and not just because of his choice in reading material.

“Sure, I like the book,” Trump quipped. “The writer wrote beautifully.

”But, to be honest, I just wanted to help him out. You know, you work hard and it’s not easy sometimes.

“This guy seemed to me to be trying so hard. It was really interesting, he really seemed to be trying to figure out life.

“He looked like a really good guy.”

When told of Trump having read the story, Lyons joked, asking if “the cheque’s in the mail.”

A few minutes later, when Karpoff gave Lyons the cheque outside the Kami Inn in downtown Kamloops, the reality hit and Lyons began to cry.

“For once in my life, I’m speechless. I’m at a total loss for words,” he said. “Usually I’m so loquacious, but this, I don’t know what to say.”

Life hasn’t been easy for Lyons, who has been in Kamloops for about three decades. Sometimes he stays in the hostel; other times he gets emergency welfare from the provincial government and uses it to find some shelter.

Recently, home has been a pile of cardboard and some blankets.

When winter comes, “I just get more blankets,” he said.

Karpoff is familiar with the way Lyons lives. Her own brother was once on the street. It wasn’t until she and other family intervened and got him onto a disability pension that he was able to regain some control over his life.

“I am adamant against what is happening to people who are homeless,” Karpoff said. “Look at what he did. What does he take out of a bin? A book on Donald Trump.”

Trump said he will often help out those he feels need a step up in life.

“The fact he was trying so hard and reading the book, it seems to me he was really trying to figure out life.

“He looked like a really good guy, and Dave Eagles took a great picture, and it all added up, and I just wanted to do this. And it’s a good paper.”

Karpoff said she was greeted with giggles and “wow, here she goes again,” when she prepared the letter, and didn’t expect more than a form reply from Trump’s office, if anything.

“I thought I’d get a thank you so much, da da da da da. But, wow. Mr. Trump look what you’ve done.”

She’s hoping Lyons is able to use the money to improve his life, expressing her belief that government doesn’t do much to help the homeless and social agencies can only make a small dent in the problem.

In the meantime, Lyons — a man who says he likes to be low-key and prefers to surround himself with the brotherhood of the street — connected with a woman who said she couldn’t judge him, but wanted to do something.

“You weep,” she said as Lyons struggled to regain his composure.

“We all weep.”

— Story and video courtesy of BClocalnews.com