Get Alice to the Philippines: Marietta family on mission to reunite 77-year-old with her relatives

MARIETTA, Ga. - A Marietta family who took in a distant relative with dementia recently reconnected her with her family in the Philippines. They told FOX 5 all about the heartwarming reunion.

Melanie Beamer says 77-year-old Alice Smith was married to her great uncle. But when he died a little more than a year ago, Alice was left on her own.   

Somehow, she was able to get in contact with Melanie and her family who then took her in.   

"I picked her up at Racetrac at 10:30 at night, and she's been with us for three months," Beamer said.

During those three months the Beamer's have been busy. They've helped Alice get new clothes, kept her healthy and uplifted.

Alice (Credit: Melanie Beamer)

Beamer said Alice now feels like a part of the family. They've even gone on a couple of vacations together.

Still, Alice had expressed her desire to reconnect with her relatives back in the Philippines.   

"Alice has been wanting to get back to the Philippines to meet her family," Beamer said. "And so we set out on this journey to find them."

Melanie said Alice had been living in Calhoun with her husband and was well-known to the Filipino community there.

So, she reached out to some members of that community and asked if they were able to help her find Alice's relatives.

"And they knew that Alice had family at one time in New York. So, they reached out to someone in New York, and then her niece in New York was able to reach, through Facebook, some family members in the Philippines," Beamer said.

Finally, Beamer connected with Alice's relatives over Facebook Messenger.

Beamer shared one of those messages with FOX 5.

"Thank you so much," the family member wrote. "Actually, we were so worried about her, but we didn't know how to find her because we could not contact her."

Eager to know she was okay, the family called Beamer late one night due to the time difference.    

 "We got a message on Facebook like at 11:30 at night and my phone went off. So, I ran downstairs and woke up Alice. It was a video chat through Facebook and when they saw each other, they immediately started crying because she said, 'We thought you were dead.'" Beamer said.

Alice gets pampered (Credit: Melanie Beamer)

Alice expressed a desire to go back and live with them. Now, the Beamer's said they face a new challenge.

Alice’s passport has been expired for decades.    

"We're hoping to be able to reach out to people that may have the resources or the means to help us with the correct documentation in order to get Alice back over to the Philippines," Beamer said. 

If you're able to help, Melanie shared her email address: mbeamer02@gmail.com.

The family has also set up a GoFundMe to help pay for travel costs when they are able to get Alice back to the Philippines.