How one man's soap business fuels The Love Truck to help Akron's homeless

Nathan Walden said helping others is in his blood.

Walden, 30, said he grew up in a family where assisting people in need was always a focal point.

"We've just always been involved in philanthropy and helping the community," Walden said.

As an adult, Walden continues to serve the community through his work as founder and CEO of Hope Soap Ohio, which sells items such as soaps, shampoos, body washes and lotions. He's also founder of The Love Truck, a nonprofit that provides meals, hygiene products and other essentials to the homeless community.

Walden has two Hope Soap stores —  one in the Northside Marketplace at 21 Furnace St. in Akron, and the other at 125 Portage Trail in downtown Cuyahoga Falls. There also is a manufacturing facility on Riverfront Parkway in Cuyahoga Falls.

Walden uses money from sales at Hope Soap to help fund the meals he provides to the homeless community once a month through The Love Truck. With each item sold at a Hope Soap store, a bar of soap is donated to the homeless community. Monetary donations for The Love Truck are also accepted at the Cuyahoga Falls Hope Soap store.

How The Love Truck got started

Walden said he founded The Love Truck in 2012 after he started going to the former Victory Temple church in Akron.

"There was a lot of people that were houseless around there," said Walden, who now lives in Cuyahoga Falls. "I just met them. I was drawn to them …I would go up and talk to them and start a conversation."

After visiting with people in need in Akron, Walden asked some of his friends to help him serve regular meals to the homeless community. On the first go-round, they packed about 50 to-go lunches and handed out the food at Grace Park in about 20 minutes.

"The need was really big," Walden said.

More to-go lunches were packed for the next distribution, but Walden said he soon decided it would be "more cost-effective" to prepare meals. 

He felt it was important to provide people with a hot, homecooked meal with a menu of items such as chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans.

"In being called The Love Truck, we wanted them to really feel the love in the food so we tried to serve a good hearty meal," Walden said.

During the first five years or so of providing the meals, Walden prepared the food in his home. Officials at First Congregational Church of Akron on Market Street then allowed Walden and his friends to cook meals in their commercial kitchen and serve the food at Grace Park. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Walden returned to preparing meals in his home, and he and his volunteers assembled to-go boxes of food that are handed out at Grace Park. Items such as socks, soap, toothbrushes, blankets and jackets also are distributed while the food is being delivered.

For six of the past nine years, Walden said he and his volunteers served a meal once a week in Grace Park. The to-go boxes are now passed out at the park to anywhere from 75 to 150 people once a month.

While the food is being dispersed, Walden said Kimberly Stimmel — who started the non-profit Closet of Caring out of her home in Cuyahoga Falls — brings clothes for people in need.

Before the pandemic, Walden also provided a resume writing service during the distribution of meals and items. He expects to start that service up again some time once things begin to return to normal.

Bringing hope with soap

Several years ago, Walden developed a skin condition called dermatitis, which he said is an "itchy inflammation of the skin." After visiting doctors and dermatologists and trying medications that didn't help, Walden said he made his own soap using natural ingredients and the recipe cured his skin condition.

Up until then, Walden had conducted fundraisers to secure money to purchase food and supplies for the meals he provided through The Love Truck. Once he created the soap, Walden started selling the product and using the sales money to fund the meals and buy items such as socks, toothbrushes and blankets. In addition to selling the soap, Walden said he decided to donate soap to people who were houseless.

"[The houseless] need good soap because their skin is not in great shape sleeping outside in the winter," Walden said. "Their skin is chapped. Sometimes it's wet where they are sleeping. They really needed good soap."

After selling his products online, at events and at pop-up shops for a while, Walden opened a Hope Soap Ohio store at The Northside Marketplace on Furnace Street in Akron in 2018 and then set up a second shop on Portage Trail in downtown Cuyahoga Falls in early 2019. A manufacturing facility was opened at a spot on Riverfront Parkway, also in Cuyahoga Falls, in October 2020.

Establishing the manufacturing site was important because, Walden said, he was previously making the soap inside his apartment.

"My apartment was lined with soaps and tables and products in my living room and my second bedroom," Walden said.

Hope Soap sells more than 200 products, including soap, shampoo, body wash, lotions, bath bombs and candles. The products are made from natural ingredients and often carry humorous names: a lavender soap has the moniker "Calm It Down 'Sis."

Walden said his company promotes sustainability through its programs and products. Customers who returns a product container for recycling receive a 10% discount on their next purchase. The packaging used for the soaps "has wildflower seeds in it," Walden said. "You just put it in the ground and it grows wildflowers. There's no waste."

Hope Soap Ohio's Facebook page and Instagram site will list notices about items that are needed for upcoming distributions of meals and supplies. 

Cuyahoga Falls Rotary Club honors 

The Rotary Club of Cuyahoga Falls recently gave its first-ever Business Leadership Award to Walden.

On its Facebook page, The Rotary Club of Cuyahoga Falls said Walden "demonstrates high ethical standards in his business practices along with his outreach to the community. He supports other businesses by lending his knowledge, providing donations, and assisting with initiatives in Downtown Cuyahoga Falls."

"We made hand sanitizer when no one else had it" during the COVID-19 pandemic, Walden said. "We donated over $2,500 worth of hand sanitizer to [Akron and Cuyahoga Falls Police Departments] and to the local houseless community… We continued to make it and sell it … when no else had it."

Philanthropy is family business

For Walden, philanthropy has always been a family affair.

"My parents have always done a lot of things in the community," Walden said. 

Walden's father, James, was a pastor at The Hill Church in Kent for 24 years, but has since moved to Tennessee. He has two brothers who also are pastors — Jeremy Walden succeeded his father at The Hill Church and Jon Walden serves at Aspinwall Church in Cleveland. 

While he was growing up, Walden said he and his family took missions trips to Jamaica. Activities included going to orphanages, handing out food, visiting with sick people in their homes, painting houses, and building schools and churches.

Walden said his family has, for more than 30 years, filled a semi-truck with food, clothing, medication, and equipment such as wheelchairs and crutches, and then sent the supplies to places such as Haiti and Nigeria. One year, the items were delivered to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.

Walden said his grandfather coordinated the project for a long time and his brother Jon took over after their grandfather died.

As he continues with his efforts today, Walden said he is "very compassionate" to people who are experiencing homelessness "because someone has to help them."

He added he is mindful of how nearly anyone could find themselves in a difficult situation.

"People always think someone made bad choices and this is what happened to them," Walden said. "But that's really not the case …I could be one paycheck away from being homeless. Anyone could be homeless. Anyone could be down on their luck."

Walden said his family taught him to "take care of people that need taken care of and help them get back on their feet.

"It's every human's job."

Reporter Phil Keren can be reached at pkeren@thebeaconjournal.com, or on Twitter at @keren_phil.

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