Alana Wilson. Executive Director

Although together for the birth of her brother, her parents split up before Alana was born. Her father’s poor choices ultimately led to his incarceration. Raised by a single mother, Alana often felt very isolated from her peers and spent a lot of her life having to deal with the difficult emotions of her complex situation on her own. Due to the lack of a second financial presence in her home, Alana’s Mother was forced to accept the support being given to her for her and her two young children at the time. The small family of three were forced to move in with Alana’s Grandparents, her Uncle—an NYPD Police Officer at the time, and her cousin. Her Mother was forced to work long hours, leaving home early in the morning and coming home late in the evening.

Alana was frequently aware of the void in her life created by the absence of her father. Over the years, she often felt different from other kids and because of this she had a lot of trouble keeping and sustaining friendships throughout her early school years. Due to her home-life differences, Alana carried herself in a mature manner unlike most of the kids around her, and was often bullied. She suffered from severe depression and anxiety and struggled to trust the people around her. It was during this time in her later years that her Uncle who had been the only Father figure in her life up until that point, had sexually abused her from the ages of 13-17. Alana’s self-esteem plummeted and she found herself starting to spiral. She’d felt she hit emotional rock bottom.
Through it all, Alana overcame all the adversity she faced and would continue to be described by others always as a loving, compassionate, and caring person who never failed to do right by others. She found healing through helping others that needed it. In her free time, she struggled to find healthy outlets for her creativity. She’d be lightheartedly referred to by others close to her as “the Jack of all Trades”.
She was later assigned a term paper and was told she could research any topic she wanted under the umbrella of family dynamics. Without hesitation, she chose Incarceration and its effect on families with a focus on children. She found some interesting statistics. One of the ones that surprised her the most was that 70% of kids with incarcerated parents are more likely to go down the same path as the incarcerated parent before them.
    After that, she began to think about what it must be like for less fortunate children of incarcerated parents, who had been faced with different situations than she had and may not have been as lucky. This made Alana think about the other children out there with single moms. Who helped them with their homework? Who put them to bed? What outlets did they have for recreation, and who was making sure that their sense of self worth was developed and nurtured? Who was helping them to eat healthy? Who was helping them work through their emotional pain?
   Alana felt we as a society should feel emotionally and morally obligated to have the answer to these questions, and Alana Wilson’s Helping Hands Village was born, a name chosen because it would require nothing less than a village to help other children of incarcerated parents all over reach their full potential as well.
Alana feels that every child has the right to life-long success and happiness and that no child should ever have to feel alone or inferior to the rest due to a parent’s mistake. Incarceration is a cycle and she’s made it her life’s mission to break it.