HONOLULU -- A homeless man from Seattle has left the islands and is now safely home with his ailing father.

State lawmakers first called attention to 39-year-old Gregory Reese on Monday, when they started raising money for the man who said he had no funds to buy a plane ticket.

That’s where 35-year-old Denise Sakai comes in. The independent hair stylist said she first learned of Reese’s plight on Tuesday, while she was a break. “The newspaper was right in front of me and the article was right there. I read it and it touched my heart,” Sakai said.

Reese told reporters Monday, he moved from Seattle to Hawaii in May, for a job. When it fell through, he found himself homeless. “I’ve been living around the airport, right near Nimitz and I’ve been going to local churches, getting meals over there and getting help for clothes and showers and stuff like that,” Reese said.

Several state lawmakers rallied around Reese when they learned he was desperate to be with his father, who suffers from lung cancer.

Representative John Mizuno chipped in a hundred dollars to purchase an airline ticket for Reese. But then – Sakai stepped in and bought Reese a $300 one-way ticket to Seattle. “There was no hesitation. I put myself in their situation and if I was in need, I would want them to help me,” Sakai said.

Sakai has a husband, a 6-year-old son and a full-time job. But her focus this week was to get Reese home as quickly as possible.

She succeeded.

Reese called Sakai to thank her before he boarded his flight to Seattle early this morning. She told him, “It was no problem. I’m glad that you get to go home and see your Dad. And he kept thanking me, thank you, thank you. He was very grateful,” Sakai said.

But Sakai said she is truly grateful for the privilege of helping Greg Reese when he most needed it. “It’s an unexplainable happiness that I wish other people would extend. I just wish more people would pay it forward,” Sakai said.

Mizuno and other state lawmakers said Reese’s story inspires them to revive a proposal that would fund one-way airline tickets for mainland homeless people who are living in Hawaii.

A similar proposal died in the state legislature this year.