A man, a cooler of sack lunches and a mission: How a formerly unhoused New Yorker helps combat food insecurity in his city

He starts off each day with a cooler full of food and drinks, walking the city’s streets and subway system handing them out until it’s empty. Today’s impact, he says, could be great.

Outside Macy’s flagship store in Herald Square, a young woman sits on a brown sheet of cardboard, her knees drawn tightly to her chest and her head buried between them. An endless stream of New Yorkers and tourists toting fancy shopping bags pass by without so much as registering her existence. But when Henry Thomas sees her, he rushes to cross the street, dragging a beat-up gray cooler on wheels behind him. “Are you hungry?” he asks as he approaches her spot on the sidewalk. Without saying a word or meeting his eyes, the woman nods quickly and accepts the Wendy’s bag Thomas pulls out of his cooler. Inside is a burger, fries, chicken nuggets, a packet of honey mustard and a plastic cup of Sprite. Thomas tries to talk with her, but the young woman stays quiet, distant. Without judgment, he grabs his cooler by its handle and shoves off through the crowd, his grown son following closely behind. Thomas starts off each day with a cooler full of food and drinks, walking the city’s streets and subway system handing them out until it’s empty.