Women of Northwest Arkansas: Sarah Pine

 In this Women Of Northwest Arkansas Report, we meet a young lady who lost everything, including her kids, after a world of drugs took over her life.But instead of giving up she found her hope. In 2009,  Sarah Pine was arrested after a huge meth lab bust. Sarah says, " I was cooking methamphetamine in the bedroom. My kids were outside...it was bad.  I got arrested for endangering the welfare of a minor. It was really bad. There is, I mean there is nothing I can say to begin to justify what I was doing." But Sarah says her arrest was actually the start of a new beginning, "The night before I went to jail I was crying out to God to help me out of what I was in because I didn't know how to help myself.   I didn't know how to stop what I was doing. Basically God answered my prayers and by doing that, the cops came and I went to jail. And I  lost my kids that night I lost custody of all three of my children." And that's when Sarah says she began to understand her life had to change. "I went to D.C.C.   They told me I had to change one thing and that was everything."  She served one year in the Department of Community Corrections but when she got out, continuing to make those changes proved harder than expected. "I went to my parole officer. I had put in 86 applications and nobody was hiring me because I was a felon and I was just looking for a start, somebody to give me an opportunity to give me a chance to get going on the right road and not back on the wrong one."  Her parole officer refereed her to Goodwill and the organization's Transitional Work Program. Kim Daniell with Goodwill says, "With Sarah not only you know  its a great opportunity and it's a great program but she made the most out of that program and we are so proud of her. Sarah has come so far she's been clean for 3 years, has her kids back and has been promoted to management within the Goodwill organization."  Sarah says, "Through my job you know this is the first time in my life I've ever stood on my own two feet. I pay my own bills I take care of my own kids.  And I mean I have a car thats paid for and a huge house, a dog and a cat with 3 beautiful wonderful children." And she takes life and her recovery one day at a time. Click here to learn more about Goodwill and the programs it has available.