A Place to Fuel the SOUL
The SOUL House Story
My name is Shonda Nicole Gladden and I am a mother,
a PhD Student, clergywoman and social entrepreneur.
I am glad you’re here to read about an idea I have.A few months ago, GOD spoke the vision to me of curating #SOULHouses.
I shared the vision with a few people and a few days later,
a connection was made with a local Indianapolis woman who owns a property
that she wanted to partner with someone to do exactly what I heard the Spirit of GOD tell me to do. 👀I pondered it in my heart and told her I would get back to her.
I took a few people to do walkthroughs of the house and prayer walks around the house:
a couple of contractors, my prayer partners, and a couple of our Good To The SOUL team members.
And I kept pondering it in my heart.On November 16, 2019 I launched a GoFundME campaign
to open the first SOUL House in Indianapolis, IN
with the hopes of raising $10,000 in the next thirty days.The goal with this initial capital campaign is to address a few property issues to ensure that we can do more substantive work in the Spring.
1) We will remove a tree that is dangerously losing large branches close to the property.
2) We will winterize the property to ensure that the cold weather does not damage the good bones of the facility.
3) We will finalize the 501(c)3 process to solicit grant funds in the Spring. (SOUL House, Inc. is already an Indiana nonprofit).
The balance of the funds will become liquid capital to secure future funding for the renovation work.
With more than 4,000 friends on Facebook,
I thought that if just half of them each just donated $5 I’d hit that mark in no time.
Do you have $5 to spare? Maybe you have $10? Some may have $100.
Who knows, someone may be able to just call me and say
“I have $10,000 and I heard GOD say I’m supposed to give it to you for this.”
I don’t know.
I just know that I’ve allowed fear to cause me to be disobedient to the whispers of the Spirit
too many times in my life and I’m not going to do that this time.#SOULHouseInitiative #GoodToTheSOUL #TrustGOD
Thank you for taking a moment to read about my idea.
Kind regards,
Shonda Nicole Gladden
SOUL House #1
In Honor of Min. Herbert Morgan and Rev. Elaine Hawkins Morgan
Min. Herbert Morgan (deceased) and Rev. Elaine Hawkins Morgan currently own the property that will house SOUL House #1. They dedicated their marriage to helping others and Min. Herbert's untimely death shortly after their wedded bliss shook Rev. Elaine emotionally, but it did not shake her faith or commitment to their community. With the rise of gentrification and the influx of developers creating rising tax bills and the displacement of longtime residents, Rev. Elaine hopes that this initiative will help to keep the spirit of their marriage alive in the Mapleton Fall Creek neighborhood for years to come.
