Snuggled up on the couch reading a book. It's a simple pleasure Olivia O'Brien wouldn't have been able to do a few months ago.
Up until November, O'Brien - who's nine months pregnant - was homeless. That's when Mother's Refuge, a shelter for women and their children, took her in.
"Things keep on coming," she explained. "It is a loving place. It makes you want to do better in life when you are surrounded by people who actually care."
Then just when she thought it couldn't get better, it did. Sallas Automotive bought a car for a few hundred dollars, then refurbished it. When it was complete, owner Nick Sallas gave it to her.
"Having to take the bus for an hour and a half to work versus driving 20 minutes, it's a huge change," she said. "You can't just take a bus anywhere, but you can take a car anywhere. So it changes everything for me."
O'Brien will use the car to drive to work. And, once her daughter arrives in March, she'll use it to take the baby girl to doctor appointments, to the park and to day care.
"I hope it brings her to let her know there are people who care, there is hope," said Sallas, who spent thousands of his own money to make the car driveable. "That she can move forward. I hope it gives her a good jumpstart on her life."
"I have everything I could possibly need," said O'Brien. "I have a roof over my head, food, a bed, people that care, anything else she would need she can have when she's here. I have no fears so that's the first I felt like this in a long time."
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Terra Hall can be reached at terra.hall@kshb.com.
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