Foundation furnishes apartment for formerly incarcerated mom's fresh start

Home for the holidays has an extra special meaning for Sarah Wilson this year.

"I was pregnant last year in Thanksgiving in jail and I'm out this year with him being 10 months old," Wilson said. "It is a start of a new beginning and for the rest of my life. I'm very thankful for everything that's happened for me."

Wilson and her son, Ryan, got the keys to her new apartment.

She helped secure it thanks to Holliday's Helping Hands.

Little did she know walking in the first time the foundation had furnished the entire place.

"I don't even know what to say," Wilson exclaimed. "I was tripping. I thought I was going to walk into it still needed to be cleaned."

Katina Holliday, CEO of Helping Hands said, "We do that through donations of the community and people that donate to us. We're able to fully furnish her apartment. When I say fully furnish I mean everything: a bed for the baby, comforter sets, we put food in the refrigerator and also we're giving her a Thanksgiving dinner."

Helping Hands aids previously incarcerated pregnant women find housing.

Wilson was arrested last year for drug possession and was facing more than eight and a half years in prison.

She found out she was pregnant in jail and decided to take part in a diversion program for the chance at raising her son.

Wilson said, "I've been sober. I've worked on myself tremendously. I don't have any conversations with anybody that gets high and for me that's a lot because I've always ran back to getting high."

"I think it's a sense of relief that she's gotten there because she completed our program and just a sense of feel-good that we thought enough of her to do this for her," Holliday added.

Wilson continues to work on herself every day and promises to fill her new home for her son with nothing but love.

"That was it for me. I'm done. He's it for me. He's what it took," she said.

Wilson called this an absolute blessing for her and her son.