MADISON – People from across North Alabama with varying religious beliefs set aside their differences to focus on shared goals as they volunteered time and talents for the second annual Community Day of Service.

The Day of Service is scheduled in September to remember the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “In an effort to strengthen the religious outreach and connections within the community, this Day of Service was organized by members of the Madison Interfaith Council and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” spokesperson Tiffany Johnson said.

On Sept. 9, North Alabama residents gathered in various locations around the cities of Madison, Athens, Decatur and Cullman to participate in service projects that would benefit their local communities.

“These service projects included making quilts for Project Linus, taking photos for The Billion Graves Project, food drives, making utensil bags for First Stop Inc., yard work for Madison city parks, indexing historical records for FamilySearch and making cards for military service members, care facilities and children’s hospitals,” Johnson said.

With joint efforts at each location, volunteers collected and donated more than 540 pounds of non-perishable foods to The Link of Cullman County, Limestone County Churches Involved and Feeding Families of North Alabama.

“A total of 24 quilts were completed and 35 fleece blankets prepared to be tied for donation to Project Linus, which provides blankets and quilts for children who visit hospitals for medical treatments,” Johnson said.

In addition, workers assembled more than 1,100 utensil bags for donation to First Stop Inc., a nonprofit organization in Huntsville that gives support to the homeless community to help them out of their situations.

More than 2,700 photos were taken for the Billion Graves project, an initiative to create a GPS-driven archive of cemetery data throughout the United States, Johnson said.

The charter of Madison Interfaith Council states, “We collectively endeavor to help the needy and afflicted as servants to the community of Madison County and the surrounding areas. It is therefore resolved that we will commit to work together as pastor representatives, or delegated representatives, of our respective churches and faiths to identify, discuss and provide compassionate and humanitarian services to people located within Madison County and the surrounding areas, irrespective of nationality, race or creed.”

For more information, visit Facebook/Madison Interfaith Council.