Alumni Awards Homecoming 2016: Reba Lynn Harris

Reba Harris, photo obtained from http://www.gileadhousekokomo.org/about-us/
Reba Harris, photo obtained from http://www.gileadhousekokomo.org/about-us/

By: Dezaray Barr

 

Annually, Indiana Wesleyan University presents the Distinguished College of Adult and Professional Studies Alumni Award. This year, the recipient of the award is Reba Lynn Harris, a 1997 graduate.

Harris founded the Gilead House in September of 2000 and is now the executive director. The Gilead House offers education, training, programs and services for broken and hopeless men, women and children.

Harris belongs to Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church in Kokomo, Indiana where she serves as the president of the F.D. Reece Christian Academy, as well as an adult Sunday school teacher. She is a member of the Howard County Drug Court, Howard County Mayor’s Task Force and is a board member on the Kokomo Veteran’s Home. Finally, Harris has been honored with the Indiana Black Expo Award for community enrichment.

Harris’s education at Indiana Wesleyan University is what inspired her to open the Gilead House, as well as give her resources to help the Howard community. “It has given me the confidence to strive for the vision that God has given me,” Harris said about her education at IWU.

This award is granted to an alumnus or alumna of the College of Adults and Professional Studies who has exhibited excellence in serving his or her profession, community, church, or alma mater in the spirit of Jesus Christ, and will be awarded during the Homecoming Weekend of October 7th.

 

Written by Dezaray Barr, Writer for the Alumni Office. Dezaray is a Sophomore Strategic Communication and Honors Humanities double major at Indiana Wesleyan University in the John Wesley Honors College. At IWU Dezaray is involved in PRSSA leadership and runs both the JWHC Blog and her own blog. Visit Dez’s website at www.dezaraybarr.weebly.com.