written by Chilton Stewart
Restore Revive Renew Ministries started from the personal journey of its founder Yolanda Wright. A formidable woman making her mark in Henry County while she heals herself and the greater Henry County community she lives in.
“I have always had a servant's heart.”
She built Restore Revive and Renew to combat sex trafficking and domestic abuse. Creating an organization to address one of those societal ills would be enough for almost anyone but Ms. Wright feels a calling to help as many people as she can and leave the most positive mark on her community. Although her organization is operating on all cylinders, it wasn’t always that way.
“I started it in 2013. I went through a divorce around 2009 after being married for seventeen and a half years. I was a church girl, I am still a church girl. My Dad was a Deacon, my Mom working in the church. Also I am a musician, choir director. So I was born and bred in the church. My parents were married for 55 years. I knew what married life was supposed to look like. She reflects further “At 25 years old I got married. I just thought everybody was good. I was naive. I thought everybody was going to be like your Daddy. I saw signs, ignored signs. I got into this marriage. First it started off with verbal abuse and then it escalated. Alcohol played a huge role in the abuse. After 17 years of hiding I just had to walk away.”
It is painful stories like these that help to define and understand this dynamic woman and her desire to do good for herself and all those around her. An even bigger look into her past and you see a certified “go getter” who didn’t allow circumstances, painful as they may be to stop her.
“Fast forward to 2013. It was actually the idea of my former pastor that I should start a non-profit. I was already out in the streets doing the work but I was doing it as a hustle. Because I didn’t know anything about how to organize a non-profit. I was out there feeding the homeless, clothing the homeless, going to the shelters for battered women. I was out there doing the work but I didn’t know anything about organizing, getting it legally done.” She continues
“All of those years that I operated without a 501c3. Not one time was I concerned about not having a 501c3” My concern was going downtown, to make sure these people had food. Going downtown making sure these people had clothes. Going to the women’s shelter to sit and talk with these women to find out their stories to see what I can do to help them.”
She credits her parents for instilling in her a desire to serve her community. “Actually both of my parents were very deep rooted in the community. My Dad gave back with his charter bus service, by taking people, churches and schools and just people in general everywhere at a small cost. He never charged people full price because that was his way of giving back. My mom ran a salon for years in the community and helped so many people. So that’s all that I ever knew was serving and giving back. It was just born and bred in me.”
In fact it was one of her last conversations with her father that gave her the inspiration to dot all the “i’s” and cross all the “t’s” in setting up her organization. Right before her father passed away he told her “I want you to live, you’ve taken care of me, you've taken care of your mother and I want you to do the things that make you happen. So I was determined. I was going to get organized and relaunch this non-profit the right way and that’s where it was reborn again this year.”
While being a devoted life long “church girl” she would like to see a more proactive approach from pastor’s and lay folks in dealing with issues that parishioners face. “Being a church girl. The church…one thing I can say is. They sweep a lot of stuff up under the carpet. One thing I found out later in life. I wasn’t the only one going through stuff like this at church. But everybody kept it a secret. So it's so many secrets in the church. They don’t want you to talk about your husband beating on you at home. You are supposed to keep that stuff quiet. You’re supposed to come to church, act like everything is good, look like a good happy couple and that’s what we did. I would get up on Sunday morning fights like heck. Get in the vehicle, put makeup up under my wound, come to church and direct the choir. He would go to church and be the armor bearer, play the happy couple, leave there and go back to fighting.”
Despite all of this she harbors no hatred, no malice, just a desire to “right wrongs” and help everyone find their voice. This includes educating convicted felons on their right to vote. “I had felons in my family, though they couldn’t vote. I had young guys in my family that had served time, in and out of jail but when it came time to vote they just thought, I can’t vote. I got a record. All felons can’t vote, but for certain things you can still vote after your record is cleared.”
It would not be an over exaggeration to say that Yolanda Wright has had a massive influence on the way Henry County looks today versus how it looked when she was a kid. It is safe to say that the city of McDonough would not look the way that it does today if not for the work of Yolanda Wright and her education campaign for former felons educating them to their voting rights. “I didn’t see this growing up in Henry County. We had one Black on the police department, maybe two. We didn't have a city council all black or majority Black and definitely not a Black Mayor.”
Ms. Yolanda Wright. An agent for social change and positive community impact. She leaves us with this thought. “All of those years that I operated without a 501c3. Not one time was I concerned about not having a 501c3” My concern was going downtown to make sure these people had food. Going downtown making sure these people had clothes. Going to the women’s shelter to sit and talk with these women to find out their stories to see what I can do to help them.”
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