With all the bad news in this world, it is nice to have a story that makes you feel good! Our story starts with a great man named Jimmy that is homeless. My husband Jim came across Jimmy when he was going to get a sandwich from Firehouse subs. When he pulled into the plaza he noticed a man huddled up against a sign trying to shield himself from the cold. Jim went into the sub place to get his sandwich and told the crew working there that there was a homeless man by the street and he was very cold and wanted to know if they could help him get some food for him. They all agreed and pitched in to buy this man a sandwich and also scraped together some extra money for him. My husband Jim went with the manger to give the man Jimmy the sandwich, he was so cold and shaking that he could barely say thank you to them.
My husband still feeling so bad for him came home to eat his sandwich or try to anyways. I was at work and called him on my break as I usually do. He told me the story of what happened and said that he just couldn't get him out of his head and how cold he was..and that he was Elderly and felt that he needed to do more for him. Jim had never brought anyone home before so he didn't want to put us in any danger but really just had the need to help him. I told him that it was ok, that if he needed to do that then he should. He wanted to bring him to our house and warm him up. He decided to go get him and when he got there security from the plaza was harassing him. Jim told the security guy to leave him alone and that he was coming with him. So he brought Jimmy home and made him a full pot of coffee, which he drank it all. Then he told Jimmy to take a long hot shower and that he would wash his clothes for him. The only clothes he had were the clothes on his back. It was very cold out that day and Jimmy could use a coat. So while Jimmy was getting a shower my husband Jim washed his clothes and proceeded to find him more things to give him..clothes coats etc. He found a suitcase that we were not using and put the things he gathered in it for Jimmy. After Jimmy's shower he and my husband began to chat and found out that Jimmy had 6 children that he had lost contact with for many years. He told Jim that he was 74 and had been on the streets for about 10 months. His wife had left him and he lost everything. He also told him he was a cancer survivor and almost died and that he really wanted to try to find his family. My husband Jim asked Jimmy about his family and promised that he would try to help him find them. So Jimmy gave him their names. Jimmy also has 2 small dogs that are family to him as he rescued them. One of which he found in the dumpster left to die, so they are very important to him.
Later that evening I came home from work and saw the emotional toll all this had taken on my husband. I wanted to help as well so I asked him to show me the names of his children so I proceeded to search on Facebook. I found a match that could be his daughter! I said let's send her a message and ask her if this is her father. So we sent the message in hopes that it was and that she did want to have contact with him. Well....she sent a message back and was unbelievably overwhelmed by the message. She had been searching for her Father for many years but did not have any luck. We gave her our number and spoke to her about her father Jimmy. Her name is Natalie who is an amazing daughter, Mother and Grandmother who is very strong to her faith and believed that someday she was going to find her Father through the grace of GOD! She was so happy to know he was ok..but saddened that he was homeless. We found out that they have not seen each other in 24 years! We were able to re-unite them over the phone for several hours over multiple emotional conversations. As we have continued to help them communicate thru the phone we are also in the process of re-uniting them thru Skype so they can visually connect to each other after so many years of no contact. We could not believe what was unfolding in front of us. I believe my husband Jim was meant to be there to help this man and quite literally save his life. We are so over joyed to be a part of this and be able to re-unite them. This story will be on our local channel 13 news this week and our hope is to be able to re-unite them in person. That is why we are doing this fundraiser to help get them together and maybe find his other children too and hopefully a situation that they can be together permanently. I am also trying to get Jimmy some help in finding a place to live so he can keep his doggies with him. Please help us if you can! Please also share this with your friends.. Anything will help! Thank you for letting us share our story with you!

Jim and Maria