Imagine this: you're at a Goodwill and decide you want to get an old VCR player, not knowing there's anything inside. But then, when you get home, you realize that there IS a VHS inside. And not only that, but it's a home movie of a baby taking his first steps!
Well, this exact scenario happened to Jim McKay, a filmmaker living in Austin, and he decided that instead of just finding the home movie cute and moving on, he was going to do something about it: locate the family in the video.
Jim edited some of the video down and made a video to share on Facebook and YouTube explaining how he ended up with the tape and why he was hoping to return it to the family.
After sharing the story and a clip from the video on Facebook, Jim asked friends to share the post within their circles and provided an email address where people could send him information for the family if they recognized the names and people in the video.
After getting picked up by several local news stations - it worked!
Just days later, Jim shared an update that he HAD indeed found Tyre (with the help and power of social media, of course)!
To cap off the sweet story, Jim and Tyre ended up appearing on TODAY together to talk about the entire experience. Tyre shared that his brother, Symari - who was also featured trying to get him to take his first steps in the video - had traveled to New York with him for the appearance. Symari now has a daughter, who the family shares photos and videos of in a group chat, so the moment of getting an old video like this back hit a personal note for the brothers.
THIS IS SO SWEET! I don't know what I would do if my photos and videos of Aiza and Maxon at such a young age were lost. I try to capture as much as I can of them right now because they're growing up FAST.
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Photo: Getty Images