Just when it seemed there wasn’t much more Jennifer Garner could do to endear herself to fans across the globe, the beloved actress has gone above and beyond with a gesture of compassion to melt the hardest of hearts.
According to reports, the 51-year-old was at a car park in Santa Monica Beach, California, when she spotted a homeless man in a wheelchair.
It doesn’t take a wildly vivid imagination to picture how most other A-list celebrities would have simply climbed into their vehicle and driven off. Jennifer Garner, though, is cut from a different cloth…
We all know and love Jennifer Garner for the kind, down-to-earth soul she’s proven herself to be time and again over the course of her career.
Whether it’s saving her family’s farm to preserve her ancestral history, doing her utmost to normalize postpartum baby bumps, or simply demonstrating that developing wrinkles and folds as you grow older is not an issue, the Elektra star has a track record that sets her apart from most of her illustrious peers.
Only last week did Garner make headlines for gifting her father a ride in his childhood car to celebrate his 85th birthday. Now she finds her name doing the rounds again, though this time it’s for a gesture that speaks to the seflessness and thoughtfulness of her soul.
As per reports, Garner was in a Santa Monica Beach carpark earlier this week when she came across a homeless man in obvious need of a helping hand.
It’s said that the actress rolled down the window of her car to talk to the down-on-his-luck stranger. Not only did she give the wheelchair-bound man a bag containing essential items, but she also had the presence of mind to notice that he was barefooted.
Upon realizing this, Garner then got out of her car, crouched down beside the man, and began putting socks on his feet.
Not content to stop there, the 13 Going on 30 star proceeded to pull the shoes off her own feet and attempt to give them to the man too.
It soon became apparent that the shoes didn’t fit, but Garner, undeterred, approached a nearby paparazzo – who had been trailing her – and asked if he could help.
“What size feet do you have?” she asked, as per Page Six. “Can I buy your shoes for him? He needs a shoe.”
The photographer asked what size the man needed, with Garner informing him that the homeless man was “10 and a half.”
“Oh, I’m 11! Want me to give it to him? I can give it to him,” the paparazzo responded. To his credit, the photographer refused payment from Garner and gave up his shoes freely.
Of course, Garner’s generosity likely won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s followed her life and career closely. The actress has long been an advocate of helping others in need, having partnered with Save the Children over a decade ago.
“While I did not grow up poor I was surrounded by it and I always said I was a generation and a holler removed from rural poverty,” she once told Southern Living.
“And I went looking and ended up with Save the Children. Because they are definitely the leaders in helping kids in rural America.”