Christian and Muslim Volunteers Team Up to Serve at Salvation Army [VIDEO]

ST. CLOUD -- Members of the Christian and Muslim communities are teaming up to serve lunch this week at the St. Cloud Salvation Army.

The idea came last month when Steve Reetz of Thrivent Financial and Haji Yusuf of #UniteCloud wanted to bring members from both communities together for a common purpose.

"We wanted to do something together as an inter-faith outreach," Reetz says. "We decided to work on a common cause and rally together to serve a need in our community."

"It should be a calling for everyone in our city," Yusuf says. "[Finding] solutions for some of these problems of homelessness and not having enough food for families in our town."

The food for the week is donated by local restaurants like Flying Pig Pizza, Texas Roadhouse, Dickey's BBQ, Somali Cafe, and homecooked meals from members of Celebration Lutheran Church.

About 200 people come to the Salvation Army for lunch every day and Reetz says finding enough volunteers to serve wasn't a problem.

"It was pretty overwhelming to see the volunteer spots get filled up," Reetz says. "We just put out the word and within the first few days, they all filled up for the entire week so it was pretty exciting."

Yusuf says the chance to help those in need transcends religion while helping to build a bridge between different faiths in our community.

"Being there for each other --  that's what it comes down to," Yusuf says. "Instead of having a negative spotlight on our community, we want to divert that to something positive."