Inside 1DayLA: How Los Angeles Churches and 20,000 Volunteers Served Their City Together

In the summer of 2021, Los Angeles was still finding its way out of the pandemic. Churches, nonprofits and neighbors had spent more than a year serving in isolation, often a few blocks apart without knowing one another. 1DayLA set out to change that by asking a simple question: what could happen if the people already doing good in this city worked together?

Where it started

The idea took shape in 2019, when Love Has No Limits co-founders Dominic Russo and Jedidiah Thurner sat down with Los Angeles nonprofit leaders to test it. Those conversations narrowed the focus to three needs: poverty, child welfare and the physical restoration of neighborhoods. Then came the ask that defined 1DayLA. Faith communities were invited to open their buildings as service centers, so help would come from the places neighbors already knew and trusted.

The thinking behind that ask is one Love Has No Limits still works from. As Thurner told Stand Together, "People closest to the problem are best positioned to solve it."

A week of service across the city

Beginning July 24, 2021, faith communities, nonprofits and 20,000 volunteers spread across Los Angeles for a week of service. Volunteers cleaned up neighborhoods, staffed free medical clinics, ran after-school programs and delivered practical help to families under pressure. The week closed with a concert celebrating what the city had done together.

One detail surprised many people: there were no Love Has No Limits banners. The goal was to put local churches and nonprofits in the spotlight, not the organization coordinating them. "If you want to build a brand, make it about you," Thurner said. "If you want to build a movement, make it about the mission."

What 1DayLA accomplished

By the end of the campaign, the results reached far beyond a single week:

• 20,292 volunteers took part in 1DayLA initiatives.
• Families across LA County received $47 million in services and support, including $4.4 million in donated goods.
• 722 city blocks were cleaned, painted and restored.
• More than 5,000 care packages went to unhoused neighbors.
• 2,000 families took a first step to foster, adopt or care for families in crisis.
• 123 poverty-related child welfare cases were closed through direct help to families at risk of losing their children.
• More than 100,000 families were served over the course of the campaign.

The child welfare numbers matter most to many of the families involved. When a family's crisis comes down to a broken water heater, an empty refrigerator or a missed rent payment, practical help from a local church can be the difference between a child staying safely at home and entering foster care.

What came next

1DayLA became the model for everything Love Has No Limits has done since. The same approach of uniting churches, nonprofits, schools and businesses around a city's greatest needs went on to Houston in 2023, then to Miami and South Florida, and in 2026 to Good Neighbor Day America, a national day of service in communities across all 50 states.

In Los Angeles, the work did not stop when the week ended. Partners have continued to serve families in crisis and neighbors affected by disasters like the LA fires. That long view was the point from the start. "The people driving the initiatives are going to be there 5, 10, 15 years from now," Russo said.

Bring this to your community

Every city has churches, nonprofits and neighbors ready to serve. Love Has No Limits helps them work together. If your church or organization wants to become a Serve Site, partner with us, or give to support the next citywide activation.