Sandy Springs Senior Honored as a Hero for Volunteerism

Sandy Springs high school senior Freedom Wrights is having a great year. Following her award of a four year scholarship at Syracuse University, Allstate Insurance Company has named Freedom a 2013 Allstate Give Back Day Hero.

The company has honored the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., through Allstate Give Back Day, for the last five years. The national program encourages individuals across the country to volunteer.

Freedom is one of three honorees making a difference in their communities. She is a former foster child, adopted at age four. She decided to help other children living in the foster care system by holding “Free Your Mind” backpack drives benefitting foster children in metro Atlanta.

“I remember bouncing from house to house,” said Freedom, in August. “You never knew where your next meal or set of clothes were going to come from.”

Freedom’s goal is to raise awareness of older children living in foster care and encourages youth to volunteer, an Allstate announcement said. She speaks to community groups about the foster care experience and has the Presidential Service Award the past four years for her efforts as a regular volunteer at The Atlanta Community Food Bank, The Atlanta Fulton County Library and St. Francis Table, a soup kitchen in Atlanta that feeds the homeless.

Freedom received a Posse scholarship at Syracuse University for her leadership attributes. The Posse Foundation sends student leaders from high schools in groups called posses to top colleges and universities across the country.

"I have an opportunity to be a leader on campus," said Freedom. "...The Posse scholarship means that I will never be alone. I will have 29 new friends, all of whom are amazing young men and women."