Jackson, Miss.-based The Word Center Church has canceled medical debt for 955 people in the state, the Jackson Free Press reported Nov. 12.
The move was in collaboration with nonprofit RIP Medical Debt, which purchases medical debt at discounted rates on the debt collection market.
The assistance helped people from 70 of the 82 counties in Mississippi, with assistance of up to $11,000 to individuals, according to the article.
Most of the assistance went to Hinds County, which is where the church is located. This benefited 256 families in the county with $476,916.24 in debt forgiveness.
"We wanted to concentrate on Hinds County, but then once we alleviated all the debt in Hinds County, which we did, we spread out into other counties throughout the state of Mississippi from north Mississippi, all the way to south Mississippi," Lead Pastor Roderick Richardson said.