ALBANY, GA. -- Although Albany often gets a bad rap, there are people in the community working to transform the city's image and Ladonna Urick is one of them.
Most people spend their weekends hanging with family members and relaxing at home but not Urick. The bubbly leader packs up her daughters, her husband, and a load of volunteers to change the world for the better.
“We take action and we show people that it's okay to go into the dark places and it's okay to get dirty and those are usually the places that you bring light and you bring hope,” said Ladonna Urick, Co-Founder and Executive Director for Mission Change.
Under Mission Change, Ladonna led a group of more than 30 people, mostly volunteers from Nashville, Tennessee, on a weeklong mission, partnering with Grace Way and First United Methodist Church to help out those who are less fortunate.
“We're going to be fixing up the house, do some of the little odds and ends that some people can’t get to and we're going to give them a helping hand,” said Ladonna Urick.
Saturday morning the group rose early to pluck weeds from over grown gardens, cut down knee-high grass, paint homes and do whatever else was needed.
“We had a young man volunteer to clean the bathroom,” said Liz Dixon, Executive Director for Grace Way Recovery Center for Women.
Although it was a dirty job, the volunteers showed no pride.
“Our hope is that they take something incredible from their experience here in Albany back home with them so they can make change from their own back yard,” said Ladonna Urick.
This is something she lives by; loving people where they are and spreading the seed of volunteerism that keeps the community growing.
Because of Ladonna’s presence and dedication in the community, she's one of the winners of FOX 31’s "What's Right" competition.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWFXL