The Billings Food Bank served its annual Christmas Day meal late Wednesday morning after volunteers had driven across town delivering around 100 meals.Â
There was enough food on-hand to serve 400 people, Executive Chef David Maplethorpe said. He said he finished cooking the 21 turkeys set aside for the meal on Tuesday and that leftovers would go to other local charitable organizations that serve meals.
The meal included multiple side dishes and multiple different kinds of pie for dessert.
An official attendance count wasn't immediately available, but Billings Food Bank CEO Sheryle Shandy said it looked like fewer people would show up for the Christmas meal compared to Thanksgiving.
Shandy said that attendance for holiday meals tends to go down during warmer weather because people are more easily able to travel and be with family. Likewise, she said she thinks more people spend Christmas with their families than Thanksgiving, which can further diminish attendance.
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Still, dozens of people were ready to eat once the meal began at about 11 a.m.
Numerous volunteers, wearing white Billings Food Bank coats were on hand to help serve food and clean up dishes. Among the volunteers was Nick Barfield. Barfield was joined by his wife Tamara, his young son Haydn and his mother-in-law Cindy Bagley.
It was Bagley that helped inspire them to come down, her son-in-law said. Her church, Faith Chapel, got her coming down to the Food Bank and she's become a regular volunteer making sandwiches during the week.
"You give to your community and you get to be part of the community," Bagley said. "I moved here eight years ago, and so it makes me feel like I'm part of the community."Â
Tamara Barfield said that as a family they've volunteered in the past, but it's mostly involved preparing food boxes, and not directly giving food to people. Both parents said said they wanted to show their son what it's like to help people.Â
"We also wanted to show our son that helping other people is a good thing," Nick Barfield said. "It'll help him to be more appreciative in the future, because some of us get really spoiled."