Homeless Man Who Donated $250 To Charity Is Now Off The Streets

LOS FELIZ (CBSLA.com) — Two years after Ed Denst donated $250 to charity, the previously homeless man is off the streets and giving hope to others.

Denst was initially featured in a news story by CBS2/KCAL9 back in May of 2013 when he was weighed down by homelessness and the struggles of life.

It was then that he had explained that he ended up on the streets of Los Feliz for over 20 years after losing his wife, home, and business.

Denst caught the news station's attention when he handed over $250 in cash to the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, a Catholic charity that had provided him with daily hot meals.

"If someone gives to you something, giving back would make you feel good," Denst said in 2013.

Today, Denst has undergone a dramatic change from two years ago as the 79-year-old is now living at a convalescent home.

His journey started months after his 2013 donation.

He suffered a fall and ended up at the hospital where a doctor recognized him and contacted Claire Padama, St. Vincent's board president.

She remembers the day Denst asked her to use the money he had received from strangers to help others in need.

"I was shocked because who would think of somebody like Ed who is homeless to give us money," Padama said.

After Denst's fall, Padama made sure he stayed off the streets and helped arrange for him to live at Serrano Convalescent Hospital.

"Ed is now in a place where I think he should be," she said.

"Makes me feel right now I'm part of the world again," Denst said. "The Bible says if you give and you give everything you have … you have given more than a wealthy man just giving some."

Some believe Denst is now on the receiving end of the kindness and generosity he showed two years ago.