There's nothing wrong with being compassionate and empathetic to a person's plight. In fact, in my opinion, this is a very good personality trait to have and as 'll_billym' said, doing something yourself to help others is far more productive.
What is rather silly is 'praying' for this person's lot in life to be improved. For what is a prayer except a direct appeal to God to intervene in someone's life?
Isn't it rather absurd and presumptuous for someone who believes in God to think that they can influence that deity by simply telling Him that they think He should help someone out? Does the person praying assume that God is unaware of the plight of this other person and is bringing their situation to the attention of this omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent being for the first time? If so, they have a very low opinion of God to presume that he's unaware of what's going on in the world He created.