Jennifer Shrader/Daily News Mac Toals, on the ladder and Richard Thomas paint a house last week as part of ‘Paint the Town,’ the sixth annual DASH for LaGrange initiative that uses volunteer groups to paint houses around the city. Toals and Thomas are part of a team from First Baptist Church of LaGrange.

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Most of the volunteers working on houses in the annual “Paint the Town” effort have volunteered each of the six years it’s gone on.

It’s not easy work, often in blistering heat and humidity only a Georgia summer can produce, to paint houses of residents around town who could not otherwise afford or do the work themselves.

Sometimes it rains.

“It’s part of our mission,” said Larry Flynn, team leader of a group of volunteers from First Baptist Church on the Square. “These gals couldn’t afford it and couldn’t do it themselves.”

“It’s ‘hands and feet’ or it’s all talk,” said Larry Cousins, referring to a scripture that talks about church members getting out in the world.

The crew was almost done with the house on Troup Street, other than the trim and the porch. The once gray house now has a coat of dark yellow.

“At least it’s not raining,” Richard Thomas said.

Paint the Town, sponsored by DASH for LaGrange – Dependable, Affordable, Sustainable Housing – wrapped up Sunday, although at least one volunteer group is going to paint its assigned house later this month. Fourteen teams tackled houses this year, about average for the effort. The event has painted more than 100 houses in six years and spurred other home renovation projects, sponsored by DASH.

DASH began a new tradition last year, naming a community service award for former LaGrange Councilman Frank Cox, who helped start the Paint the Town initiative six years ago. Cox received the first award.

This year, the award went to Twin Cedars, which has sponsored a team all six years of the event.