As part of a national faith-based effort to help those in need, Alabama-based Church of the Highlands recently sent more than 22,000 volunteers out into their communities for Serve Day. While based in Birmingham, the church has 26 campuses all throughout the United States.

This year, the service event engaged volunteers from 2,772 individual churches across the country.

The Church of the Highlands, coordinated 141,054 hours of volunteer service for the day. It recorded 1,040 projects conducted that met both physical and spiritual needs. Additionally, it served 24,327 meals and provided aid to 131,418 people, including the poor, foster families, widows, people with medical issues, veterans, and the elderly.

To assist volunteers, Highlands developed a free app and distributed it to any church that wanted to use it to customize their service projects, organize volunteer activities, and connect with their members.

“The Church exists to make a difference in the lives of people around us, and Serve Day is just one of those opportunities,” Senior Pastor Chris Hodges said. “We love serving our communities. We know that getting more people involved in service and helping their neighbors strengthens the community, provides encouragement and hope to the hopeless, and opens people’s hearts to the love of Jesus.”

Convoy of Hope, a faith-based humanitarian organization based in Springfield, Mo., brought 52-foot trailers to the participating churches filled with food and essential items for community members in need.

The churches involved in the collaboration were Celebration Church in Jacksonville, FL; Citizens Church in Nashville, TN; Faith Family Church in Baytown, TX; Life Church in Memphis, TN; Lifepoint Church in Clarksville, TN; Lifepoint Church in Fredericksburg, VA; Milestone Church in Dallas, TX; Substance Church in Minneapolis, MN; The Way Church in Nashville, TN; VOUS Church in Miami, FL;  Zoe Church in Los Angeles, CA; and Church of the Highlands.

Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten