On Sunday mornings, Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lehighton sends a bus out into the community. It takes the same route every weekend, running through Weissport and Franklin Township to pick up children, as well as other congregation members, who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend church for lack of transportation.

It’s a service the church has offered for more than 20 years, Senior Pastor Marshall Wolverton said. And for him, it’s a way to make sure people have access to the church’s teachings.

“I think the key word for me is hope,” Wolverton said. “People today need hope. I mean, there’s just so much bad news out there, and the word gospel means good news.”

Hope, Wolverton added, is feeling expressed by many churches around this time of year. That’s because on April 21, thousands across the country will celebrate Easter Sunday, a Christian holiday celebrating the belief in Jesus Christ’s resurrection.

Like other holidays, Easter brings its own list of traditions, namely egg hunts and hearty dinners. But for many area pastors and churches, it’s sharing that spirit of hope that matters most — both on Easter Sunday and beyond.

Between twice monthly community dinners and senior lunches, and a monthly children’s breakfast, Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Monroe County opens its kitchen to the community at least five times a month.

The meals offered are free to anyone who comes through the door, and according to Deacon Joseph Rodgers, of Queen of Peace, often end with visitors taking home leftovers. They’re just a few of the dozens of ministries offered by the parish, which is comprised of around 2,900 families.

“We’re a Catholic church, but not everybody’s Catholic, and not everybody belongs to our church,” Rodgers said. “They’re coming for companionship. They’re coming for that feel of community. They’re coming just to talk to somebody. It’s just that simple, and that’s what we provide.

“That’s what God tells us to do.”

Another local religious organization, the Tamaqua Area Faith Fellowship Network, is gearing up to host a food drive that — while it may span only a few weeks — might make a difference year round: The Hunger Walk.

A joint effort between the Tamaqua Area Faith Fellowship Network and the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership, the event itself takes place in May, but food and monetary donation collections start this month. It’s about a one mile trek, through which participants can raise contributions by acquiring sponsorships.

The stroll raises food and funds for three area food pantries: the Salvation Army of Tamaqua, Trinity United Church of Christ and Primitive Methodist Church, which Hunger Walk Coordinator Paul Dodson said serve around 300 individuals collectively through the year with food. He added that it’s important the event take place in early spring, because “it’s the time of year when other people do not necessarily support the food banks.”

“They usually do that on holidays,” he said.

“We’ve been trying to get people to donate to year round to TAFFN (Tamaqua Area Faith Fellowship Network) and to the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership, and we’ve had some success, but not enough,” Dodson said. “We would like to have collections all year long.”

Last year’s stroll raised $6900 and collected 124 boxes of food.

For Major Sharon Whispell, of the Salvation Army of Tamaqua, a call for help can come at a moment’s notice.

With a goal to “(serve) the most people, (meet) the most needs” and “(do) the most good” (a statement taken from the organization’s website), Whispell said the Salvation Army’s responsibility is to assist people with whatever hardship follows them through the organization’s door. That could mean helping with their utility bill, finding them temporary housing or providing food assistance.

In the end, she said, it’s making sure people know they are not alone.

“There’s somebody out there that cares for them. There’s somebody out there that’s willing to help them so that they don’t have to feel like their alone,” Whispell said. “Sometimes that’s the hardest thing is to say ‘I’ve never had to ask for help, but I lost my job, or I lost my home, or there was a death in my family.’

“Knowing that there’s a place that they can go, and they’re not going to get judged, but they’re going to be loved and given direction and help — I think that encourages people,” she said.