Serving Up a Second Chance

Pam Wilson believes in giving people second chances and jobs.

After establishing a "second-chance policy" with the approval of her boss, Wilson, manager of Pizza Hut in Danville, started hiring people she believes deserve a second chance and looking for other ways to help people. “I give people second chances. I don’t judge someone by the past. These kids need someone to direct them and to give them the right direction,” Wilson said.

She employs former prisoners, abused single mothers, alcoholics, drug-addicted people and others with problems who are willing to change their lives just as she did. She started helping others after pulling her own troubled life together. “Life is a road, and when some one takes a wrong turn he needs someone to bring him back,” she said.

Wilson, 43, who said she was abused as child by her grandfather, is mother of three: Ronny Mick, 25; Sherie Luttrell, 23; and Kenny Propes, 18. She has been married five times.

Ronny Mick was born with spina bifida, a condition she said his father couldn’t accept. They separated and divorced. She said she became an alcoholic and drug abuser to "deal" with problem. Her mother got full custody of Mick.

Wilson’s turning point came when she met a man in Ohio who told her she is so beautiful inside but doesn't let it come out. "I decided to change myself and to become a better person and mother,” she said. 

Bartender Pam Wiliams, 42, was in an abusive relationship when Wilson met her at Casey County High School. Williams' progress includes becoming a first-time home buyer.

Wilson counsels current employees and stays in touch with former employees to try to help them overcome their troubles. “If you don’t follow up supporting and meeting the second chance people then you are just the next one who is gone from their life forever,” Wilson said. She often visits former employee Emily Putteet, 30, a single mother of three whose husband is in prison for selling drugs.

Wilson checked at his home on David Sowder, 32, Pizza Hut employee who was injured in a fight with another employee at work. "I love Pam to death," he told an observer.

Eric Paycheck, 17, an employee at Pizza Hut, has attention-deficit (hyperactivity) disorder. Shortly after Wilson hired him he passed his multitasking and mathematics tests.  "I feel so much better about myself now. Thank you Pam," Paycheck said.

Wilson teamed up with Bruce and Kim Cox, members of the Eagles Club in Junction City, to raise money for Christmas presents for children in that community this year. She and her friend Nickole McCarty do fund raising to build a playground for children living in the Long Run community.

A can on a Pizza Hut counter seeks contributions for food for hungry children in Africa.

When she feels overwhelmed, Pam Wilson goes to Lake Liberty. “I enjoy the peace at the lake, but then on a second sense I’m thinking it’s so peaceful here and five miles away you’ve got a single mom with kids who don’t even have a decent pair of shoes.”