Real Resiliency

The Gilead House Gives Women And Their Children Personalized Resources

The Gilead House is a place of refuge and healing. It is also an example of how an idea or dream can be accomplished, even if obstacles are stacked against it. Executive Director and Founder Reba Harris was 60 years old when she opened the doors to serve previously incarcerated women dealing with drug and alcohol addiction. Harris overcame the barrier of age, but also a lifetime of battling discrimination.

“I didn’t go to college until I was 53,” Harris says. “I grew up in Marion, Indiana, during Jim Crow. I didn’t get a good education. I went to a one-room schoolhouse with eight grades and one teacher. When I went to Indiana Wesleyan, I had the help of a tutor. After I graduated, God picked me to do a favor for his daughters by opening Gilead House. Society would never have picked me. I would never have picked me. God asked me to give these women a chance to change, not for me, but for him.”

Since it began in 1998, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization has offered trauma treatment and educational training programs, to give women the tools they need to be successful in the community and their home. Sessions are held five days per week and include intensive outpatient therapy, relapse prevention and mental health counseling. Life skills classes teach topics such as relationship boundary setting, dressing appropriately for employment, and housekeeping.

“We house 27 women for three months,” Harris says. “We give our best. Some are ready and some are not. Like farmers, we sow seed and some grab onto it, and some let it go. People who use drugs and alcohol are trying to medicate their pain. Ninetynine percent of the women here have been sexually molested numerous times. Others were neglected or came from abusive homes or marriages. They are not bad people, but they did bad things because they were high.”

The facility has not been without struggles. Medicaid contributes money for each woman, but it does not cover all expenses. Harris and her staff are grateful for community support, but more benefactors and volunteers are always needed.

“We try our best to get the women clean and sober, but three months isn’t enough time,” Harris says. “I wish we had another house to bridge the gap after they leave this one. Another thing I’m working on is a grandparent program. Grandparents are struggling to raise kids when parents are unable to.”

Harris is gearing up for retirement, but she isn’t thinking of taking it easy. She has already authored one book, “Living Life After the Fires of my Sorrows,” available through Amazon. She is currently working on her second book, “Saved, but Not Emotionally Healed,” and has plans for a third book, “Caught in the Middle.”

“I want people to know that if you feel life has passed you by, God has a purpose and a plan for each of us, but not just one plan,” Harris says. “He has plans.”

The Gilead House is located 406 East Sycamore Street in Kokomo. For more information and to donate, visit gileadhousekokomo.org. Also call 765-8659427 and email gileadhouse2@sbcglobal.net.