First Saturday of every month, that’s when you’ll catch Michael Brown at Fresh Soul. He’s in the kitchen all day, stirring huge pots of seafood gumbo. He chops, stirs, tastes, adds a little more, keeps it going until people are lined up outside. Some even call weeks before just to make sure they’ll get a bowl. Ask him how he makes it? He’ll grin and tell you it’s a secret. You just gotta taste it.
Michael grew up right there in East Central Spokane. In 2018 he opened Fresh Soul, and it wasn’t just about food. Sure, people come in for catfish sandwiches and potato salad, but he wanted something more. A place where kids could learn, where they could feel safe, where somebody believed in them.
The restaurant runs this 16-week training program. Kids walk in with all kinds of stories some without parents, some living with grandparents, a few already trying to raise kids of their own. At Fresh Soul they learn the basics: how to talk to people, how to balance a checkbook, prep food, even how to sit in an interview and not freeze. Michael says sometimes it just makes him tear up, watching how much they change.
And that’s only part of what he does. Every summer he runs this basketball camp. Eight weeks long. It’s not just drills and games it’s meals, brand-new shoes, socks, a basketball to take home, and speakers who come in and talk about life. The kids get to play, yeah, but they also learn resilience, they make friends, they get inspired. He always says, not everyone’s gonna play ball forever, but everyone can take the lessons with them.
The camp and the restaurant tie back to something bigger. In 2010 Michael threw a neighborhood reunion at the park. Thousands of people showed up. He looked around and thought this is it, this is what community should feel like. That’s how the Spokane Eastside Reunion Association got started. All about pulling people together and reminding them they belong.
Michael’s fire for all this didn’t just appear. It comes from his own life. He grew up as one of fifteen kids. Money was tight. They lived on welfare until his mom remarried. He didn’t have a dad around until his teenage years. He knows what it’s like to go without, to feel like there’s no one to guide you. That’s why he’s so determined to step in for kids who need that guidance.
He also spends time speaking at schools, especially around Martin Luther King Jr. Day. He looks at what Dr. King stood for dreams, light, unity and he wants to carry that same torch in his own way. He’ll tell kids straight out, you’ve got to let your light shine, you’ve got to believe love is stronger than hate.
Michael isn’t changing the world with big speeches or politics. He’s doing it one step at a time. A bowl of gumbo here. A kid learning how to prep food there. A teenager lacing up a brand-new pair of shoes and realizing someone cares. That’s how he’s making his impact.
And if you ask him where he’s at right now, he’ll tell you he’s living his dream. Every day. Through the restaurant, through the camp, through every single kid whose life takes a turn because someone like Michael cared enough to show up.
