It was a small gesture, but a touching one nonetheless. Billy Ray Harris, a homeless man living in Kansas City, Missouri, returned a diamond ring to a passerby who accidentally dropped it into his change cup.
It's a story about faith in humanity that's gone viral in just a few days, with people as far as Portugal offering help.
"I looked it up, and I sat there and was just stunned."
For Edwin Harris, who's more than 700 miles away, the story carries a much deeper meaning.
"And it just so happened that earlier this week, my sister looked on Yahoo's page and saw his picture," Harris said. "And she texted me and said, 'Go look on Yahoo. There's a picture of a homeless man in Missouri who found a ring and gave it back to the owner. It's your brother.'"
After seeing the stories, Harris was able to get into contact with his brother. It had been 27 years since he last saw him. Billy Ray tried to find his family many times in the past.
"The addresses and the phone numbers that he had didn't work," Harris said. "So he didn't know what to think, he said he was just hoping and praying that everybody was well and that he would see us again. And I said 'We've been doing the same thing on this end.'"
After 45 minutes of tears, reminiscing and catching up, Harris wasted no time coming up with a plan to get his brother back home.
"In the course of the conversation, when I pulled the big brother rank on him, I just flat told him, 'You're coming home,'" Harris said. "And he said, 'Yeah, I'm coming home. I've already decided I'm coming home. But I'm not coming home right now.' And he said the reason was, he didn't want to be a burden. He didn't want to be a burden on his family, but he wanted to desperately see his family. And he's just glad that he knows we're all well."
Harris said he hopes to get his brother back to Texas by mid-March.
