Turning Tragedy into Triumph: How a Mom Fought for her Family
In May of 2024, Ambroseia Wilson’s fiancé was shot and killed outside their apartment in Tampa, Florida.
“All my kids heard it. They saw the blood. I tried to save him. I tried to do CPR.”
After that night, Ambroseia never went back to the apartment. She sold or gave away most of her belongings.
“It was a flight type of thing,” she said. “My fiancé and I did everything together once we got off from work. Tampa was a world full of memories and I needed to escape.”
She and her fiancé were planning to move to Raleigh, North Carolina. Ambroseia already had a job lined up as an administrative assistant at a local manufacturing support company. What she didn’t have yet was a home for her kids—at the time aged 13, 9, 5 and 2.
“It was crazy,” she explained. “I was calling around to find out where I could stay with my kids without having to pay for a hotel every night.” A hotline led her to The Salvation Army of Wake County.
“I met with caseworker Tammy Richardson. She helped me with so many things. I’m very thankful and grateful.”
Tammy helped Ambroseia find an apartment, get her kids enrolled in school and daycare and connected Ambroseia with the Green Chair Project.
“They furnished my whole place. All the help I received was a blessing.”
This isn’t the first time that Ambroseia felt like her world was falling apart. Her dad drowned in a boating accident four years prior to her fiancé’s murder.
“After that happened, I fell into a deep depression. It put me behind on bills. This time I knew I couldn’t get to that point. I had to be strong for my kids.”
Ambroseia admits the toughest moments are when the children are asleep and she’s alone.
“At night is the only time I think about it. All those feelings. It’s not good when I’m by myself. It’s better if I’m with my kids—something to keep my mind occupied.”
She says her children, Dash, Mia, Jax and MayaLiz are what keep her moving forward. She speaks proudly about her three school age children who are all honor roll students.
“I am a mom like everybody else. I do feel I am driven to be successful for them. I have a really good job but I’m kind of scared. When he passed it was so sudden. How he left us makes me think if I was to leave, are they going to be okay.”
Many people come to The Salvation Army in crisis. For some it is a long journey to stability for others like Ambroseia, it is a temporary stop to get back on their feet. She never imagined she would need help from a place like The Army, but she is thankful, and her advice to others is not to be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
“Put your pride on the back burner. I’m not big on asking people for help but you never know. Everybody needs somebody at some point. If it wasn’t for the help I received from the caseworkers at The Salvation Army, I don’t know how I would have managed.”