If you’ve walked through Boston Common early in the morning, you may have heard a cheerful voice saying, “Good morning! Stay warm and be safe!”

That’s likely Gilbert Foley, a 69-year-old almost-lifelong Bostonian who’s turned weather reports and warm greetings into part of the morning routine for commuters and students for many years.

Foley calls his routine “Gilbert’s News Express.” 

While he enjoys doing what he does, he got here because of hard times.

“I got laid off my job,” Foley said. “I worked unloading 18-wheelers and 53-footers, and they laid me off. I wasn’t going to sell drugs or steal anything, so I said, ‘Town Crier.’ It got in my head, started working, paid the bills, and kept me alive.”

Foley began his “broadcasts” in 1980, long before smartphones, streaming, or even the QR code people can use to donate money to him nowadays (in addition to cash).

“There were a lot of crackheads and everything else around the trees back then,” he recalled. “One lady got her pocketbook snatched, and I got the guy — he got away, but I got the lady’s pocketbook back.”

Born in Harleyville, South Carolina, in 1956, Foley moved to Boston as a toddler in 1957. The youngest of 13 children, he has lived here ever since. His parents died long ago. For decades he was homeless.

“I was rough then,” Foley said. “I was very homeless. I didn’t know what to do. I even went to spots to commit suicide. But I thought about it and said, ‘No, I don’t want to die.’ ”

He credits “the people” for helping him survive and find purpose. 

“They’re nice to me,” he told New Boston Post while sitting on a bench on Boston Common. “If they didn’t like what I do, they’d get rid of me. They don’t play around in this park. You gotta be respectable.”

Foley now has his own apartment on Elm Hill Avenue in Dorchester, which he’s had for about three years.

He also has a bank account, set up by a local resident who lives at the Ritz Carlton in Boston — the same neighbor who designed his News Express signs. The QR codes on the sign let people donate to Foley using their smartphones, with the money going directly to his bank account. 

“He said, ‘Some people don’t have money, so they can donate that way,’ ” Foley said. “He made me two of these and opened up a bank account for me.”

Each morning at 4 a.m., Foley begins his day by watching the local television news and checking the weather before heading to the Common. 

“I stay until 11,” he said. “Then I clean a few houses. I wash stoves, clean windows — whatever work people have for me.”

His updates cover only good news. 

“I don’t talk bad news,” Foley said during an interview on Thursday, October 9. “No shootings, no politics — just weather, sports, and temperature. The Patriots beat Buffalo, and the Celtics won last night — that’s what I like to tell people.”

He’s even met a few Boston sports legends while out on the Common. 

“I saw Manny Ramirez when he lived up there,” Foley said, pointing in the direction of the Ritz Carlton. “He gave me some change for my new shoes.”

Foley’s outlook remains simple after all these years.

“Be good and be polite to everybody,” he said. “Try not to mix up with politics. I don’t vote, but I believe in being behaved and respectful.”

To donate to Foley, scan the QR code below:

Gilbert Foley's donation QR code sign on Thursday, October 9, 2025. Photo by Rafal Lipowicz for New Boston Post.