Vickie Gunnells-Hodge
A large portion of Vickie Gunnells-Hodge’s upbringing was guided by her grandmother, who was the first in her family not deemed a slave or sharecropper. Because of her grandmother’s unwillingness to live according to the limitations associated therewith; she constantly told Vickie that there are three succinct rules every lady must live by:
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Know that GOD created you with a purpose, which means you are blessed to be a blessing. A major part of being a blessing means your job is to become great and help others tap into their individual levels of greatness.
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You must carry yourself as a lady because of the blessings being a lady adds to your life, beyond those who exist as mere members of your gender who have to work harder to achieve the same degree of success.
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Every piece of your life is necessary for the rest of your life to make sense, so look for the connections to your future instead of the limitations delineating an alternate future.
In 2002, Vickie began to pursue her passion of helping children and single parent families as the founder and executive director of Love In Abundance, (LIA). As a divorced mother of three, Vickie began interviewing children of divorced and separation to gain insight into the realities bothering children, because her children were selective in relaying the details about problems areas experienced. More than a decade of interviews for parents wanting to know how to best help their children; three research projects under the guise of Houston Baptist University in the fields of psychology and sociology; and as a divorced mother of three; Vickie came to know that 21st century children deal with a set of pitfalls and hazards they are insufficiently prepared to address. And since it is the training that you gain in your youth that helps students traverse contrasting obstacles leaving self with a favorable image; LIA uses an inside/out approach to life redirection while giving students permission to live as the priority. Children that have not been dealt the best hand in life are at a higher risk of being in a negative situation. LIA aides students in increasing their Human Capital through lessons to heighten academic acuity, behavior modification, and lessons in character development.
Vickie knows that you can’t be strong if you’ve never seen strong, and you can’t speak truth if you have not heard truth. There’s no way to give love if you have never known love, or if you’ve never seen the power that love has to create, transform, empower, and overcome your present situation. Vickie, through Love In Abundance encourages children to greatness, nurtures them to excellence, and instructs them on delivering the mandated skills for success to the world.