ALBERT LEXIE walks at a clipped pace through the corridors of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, a shoeshine box tapping at his hip. His shirt pocket hangs heavy with pens, a hole punch and the list of 52 regulars he calls "my buddies."
At age 15 Lexie built the shoeshine box in shop class. Now 54, he shines shoes at Children's every Tuesday and Thursday. Since he began working there in 1981, Lexie has donated his tips-over $38,000 so far-to the hospital's Free Care Fund, which provides care at no cost to children whose families live within 100 miles and have little or no insurance or access to financial assistance for medical care.
"There are times my shoes don't need shining, but I get them shined because it's Albert," says Perry Roofner, the hospital's director of facilities. "He stands for something that the hospital tries to represent-charity."
Lexie charges $2 for a shine, but people routinely hand him $3 and sometimes $5 to help his cause. Last year he donated $2174 in tips, plus the $1000 prize he received for a local public-service award.
"Albert makes you think of the song about how a mole can chewdown a mountain," explains Jonathan Finder, a pediatric pulmonologist. "He has donated tens of thousands of dollars, one pair of shoes at a time."
-Diana Nelson Jones in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette