More than 1,000 volunteers gathered across Fort Worth on Saturday for TCU’s annual Day of Service.

The university’s largest single-day volunteer event celebrated its 26th year of connecting students with the local community.

Established in 2000, TCU’s Day of Service aims to strengthen relationships between the university and the city. Each year, students, faculty, alumni and Fort Worth residents unite to support dozens of nonprofit organizations, schools and communities.

This year’s event marked the largest turnout in TCU history. A partnership with the Introduction to University Life program helped expand transportation options and boost participation.  The TCU community makes up roughly half of the volunteers, and nonprofit partners invite their own communities to participate.

“We invite our nonprofit and community partners to bring their friends, families and neighbors to serve alongside us,” Bryan Partika, the coordinator of leadership and experiential learning at TCU, said. 

Volunteers served at more than 25 sites, including several new partners such as Lambie’s Love, Keller Regional Adoption Center and Down Syndrome Partnership of North Texas. Other new partners include City of Fort Worth Parks, Hagar’s Heart and the Center for ASD.

Each organization submitted a project proposal through TCU’s Day of Service interest form and matched with university volunteer groups.

Participants contributed to a variety of projects, including organizing classrooms, cleaning up parks, painting murals, landscaping shelters and supporting special needs individuals and their families.

Coordinating a large-scale event comes with challenges. One of the biggest challenges is ensuring each site has the resources and communication it needs.

Partika said the success of the event is measured by impact, not numbers.

“Whether we have 100 or 1,000 students, the success of Day of Service comes from meeting the needs of the organizations we serve,” Partika said. “Every year, we deliver.”

The day demonstrated how collective effort and community engagement can create lasting change throughout Fort Worth.