Family thought man was dead and had lost all hope — 15 years later, a call from 600 miles away turned their lives around
Getting something when one has lost all hope can be a momentous event. A similar thing happened with a family when they received a call from a couple, informing them about their lost relative, whom they thought had died and had given up hope on. The couple who called the family met their lost relative named James, who had been homeless for 15 years, and decided to learn his story one day, per KARK News. Soon enough, they managed to reunite him with his family.
A woman, Dawn Gieber, and her husband, Jodi, had known James for quite some time. He had lived on the streets of downtown Little Rock, Arkansas, for 15 years. "I would see him as I went into the courthouse. My husband would also see him as he patrolled." She explained, "People would say James was very angry. James was a mean person. He wasn’t. James was just hungry. He was cold. He was eating out of dumpsters. James just had no resources and my husband and I just felt that there was something we needed to do to help him." One day, Dawn asked James why he was homeless. She wanted to know his story. "I treated him like a human – we all have a story."
James shared that he had lost his way and ended up losing all contact with his family after that. He tried to get back to them, but couldn't find them. "I talked to my husband and told him we had to do something. James didn’t have the resources. We did Google searches and finally, my husband found some numbers," Dawn recounted. The couple got down to it and started calling, messaging and emailing people to get a lead about James' family, with little to no luck. However, they got onto something right before Thanksgiving. "It was right before Thanksgiving and we got a call back from his niece. They had been looking for him and thought he was dead."
The couple made it possible for James to talk to his family, who were really emotional while hearing from them after so many years. Dawn asked her husband if they should take a "road trip" to reunite him with his family. They immediately decided that they were going to do that for James. Jodi bought James new clothes and brought him back to their house. But unfortunately, the couple could not take the road trip immediately as James had outstanding warrants in Little Rock.
"We knew we had to be careful because of the jobs we both hold. But I went before the judge and told him James's situation and that we were willing to pay all his fees and the judge dismissed all charges," the wife remarked. The couple finally got on the road with James and drove 600 miles to Illinois to see his family. "Seeing James reunite with his family was so rewarding. It was just the right thing to do – he’s a person and that matters," Dawn pointed out. James started to live with his family in Illinois and was doing well, according to a statement from his brother.