SUMTER, S.C. — Detrick Tyler is the new owner of a car, thanks to a donation to help give him a second chance after getting out of prison. After spending more than 20 years behind bars, Tyler joined the Clean Slate Reentry Program in Sumter when he got out a month ago.
"I knew this was going to be a whole brand experience," Tyler explained. "I didn’t know what to expect exactly, and to tell you truthfully I was scared."
Tyler tells me he’s now thriving, thanks to the kindness he’s found from his new community. Tyler received a car and a mobile home that was donated to the program.
"Stuff continues to pour out of the community like a bubbling pot. I don’t understand it, but I appreciate it," he shared. "People do this not even knowing who I am. They just see someone who actually needs help, who wants a second chance."
Not only is the community appreciated, but so is the help the program provides. Justin Wilcoxen entered the same program six months ago, which he says is teaching him crucial life lessons that he missed out on while spending seven years in prison.
"It is very important for guys like me that didn’t really have anywhere to go, no actual stepping stone from being somewhere like prison to going out into the open world," Wilcoxen said about the program. "I was locked up for seven and a half years and a lot changes in seven and a half years on the outside."
Wilcoxen is using the lessons he’s learned from the program to save up the money for a big purchase of his own.
"I bought a car, got it all legal, riding around lookin nice now, I love it," he laughed. "You know that’s one of my favorite things to do is drive."
For now, both Tyler and Wilcoxen are using their new rides to get work, which they hope will provide a stepping stone to a new direction.
"I’m still looking at a long road ahead of me, but this program actually gives me a chance to get that smudge off my record and start over again and actually be the man I’m supposed to be," Wilcoxen said. "People who don’t even know us, total strangers, just come up and be as generous as they are and to help us out and to want to see us do better in the community and to see us actually grow and shape and change our future is something awesome."
Wilcoxen tells me he'll continue to work and save money. Tyler says he’ll spend the next several months fixing up his new home and taking his reentry day by day.