More than 200 volunteers will spend their Christmas Eve and Christmas morning preparing, packing and delivering a holiday dinner to those who may not have gotten a special meal on the most festive day of the year.

Ray Christy, kitchen coordinator and a member of First United Methodist Church in Butler, said the church has been preparing a Christmas meal for its shut-ins and others in the community for more than 50 years.

While 986 dinners were picked up or delivered last year, the church is now looking at preparing up to 1,400 dinners.

Christy thinks the reason for the sharp increase not only in the First U.M. Christmas dinners, but the free dinners available each weeknight in five Butler Churches, is that families with working parents are facing low wages and ever-increasing expenses.

“They have to decide each week whether to put gas in the car or food on the table,” he said.

Christy said the dinner, which is picked up or delivered between 10 a.m. and noon, includes ham, scalloped potatoes, corn, coleslaw, green bean salad, a roll and butter, pie, milk and sweet tea.

Each recipient also receives a goody bag with six homemade cookies, hot chocolate and tea packets, candy canes and chocolates.

A small gift, like a winter hat or gloves, is also included with the Christmas meal.

Those who receive the meal must call ahead to sign up.

Christy said the hams, pies and cookies are donated by the First U.M. congregation as well as community members.

The Butler Family YMCA also provides cookies each year. This year, the organization donated 100 dozen.

“The church community and the community in general are very giving people,” Christy said. “They always come together, whether it be financial or emotional support, or prayer.”

This year, the Christmas dinner fund was at zero, so the church put together a video asking for sponsors and donations to be shown at other local churches.

“We’ve had a great response,” Christy said. “We’ve had all kinds of donations come in. We had someone donate $5,000 this year, which is huge.”

The Rotary clubs in Butler and other organizations also help out with financing the Christmas dinner, Christy said.

The cost of items like napkins, disposable eating utensils and beverages have sharply increased this year, so Christy is thrilled at the donations that have come in this year.

“It’s always amazing to see that when there’s a need, there’s always a response,” he said. “Even some of the people who receive the meals will donate a couple dollars.”

Christy also is thankful for his band of merry volunteers, whether they’re church youth putting cookies in sandwich bags, adults preparing the food in the church kitchen or packing it into containers, or those who deliver the meals to recipients who are not able to come to the church to pick it up.

“I have people from Slippery Rock who come every year,” Christy said. “I have two guys who dress up in Christmas suits with lights on them. It’s a great bunch of people.”

He said everyone who helps with the meal shares a Christian camaraderie during the busy Yuletide event.

“This is more than just a meal,” Christy said.

He and his wife, Chance, have served as coordinators of the Christmas dinner for six or seven years, as their eight children are grown and busy with their own families.

“It’s our way of keeping busy over the holidays,” Christy said.

People in need in Butler are not the only ones who receive the yummy ham dinner each Christmas Day.

Meals are delivered to the Butler city fire department and police department as well, so the public servants working on Christmas Day can enjoy a special meal.

Butler firefighter Dave Greco admitted the delivery of the meals gives the men and women on duty a warm feeling on a day when it’s easy to be grumpy at work.

“We are greatly appreciative of it,” Greco said. “It means a lot for the community to remember us and think of us.”

He said the meal precludes the daytime shift’s need to prepare a dinner for their fellow firefighters.

“That’s one day we don’t have to worry about what we’re eating,” Greco said.

Willie Hobbs, of Butler, said he has received the meal three or four times over the past 15 years, depending on whether he is spending his holiday in Butler or out of town.

“I think it’s great that they do this for those who might not be able to afford a big meal like that or who are not able to make their own meals,” Hobbs said.

He said he marvels at the sacrifice shown by the meal’s volunteers, bakers and donors.

“And the food is super good,” Hobbs said. “They really care. They don’t just throw something together.”

Christy hopes the meal this year will once again provide a small helping of love and warmth to those who need it this Christmas.

“It’s there to take off a little bit of the edge off of life in general,” he said.