Spirit of Christmas celebrated at extravagant free lunch for 450

450 people were treated for a succulent dinner of roast ham and turkey with stuffed with chestnuts with full table service – and it was all free.

Joshua Wailu, Dean Foseka and Vanessa Glennon enjoy a traditional lunch of ham, Turkey, roast vegetables and Christmas pudding. Picture: Brendan Radke

450 people were treated for a succulent dinner of roast ham and turkey with stuffed with chestnuts with full table service – and it was all completely free.

The event held in Smithfield was the work of 60 volunteers at the Cairns Community Christian Lunch Inc.

David Lennie, 52, is President of Cairns Community Christian Lunch Inc said it was a “fantastic day”

“It was a great community day for everybody. There were heaps of new people. Food was fantastic. It was great to see the whole community coming together and every child there got a Christmas present”.

Picture: Brendan Radke

He said of the event is about getting the local community together, particularly those who feel alone.

“We had three people who had just moved here from Cairns, they didn't know anybody and the three of them decided to go off that night and have Christmas dinner together”.\

Mr Lennie said that he started out a volunteer at the event when he first moved to Cairns because he didn’t know anyone.

The Cairns Community Christmas Lunch has served over 400 traditional Christmas meals to those in need at St Augustine's College. Cairns Community Christmas Lunch organiser David Lennie hands out girls to Serena Choi and her children Vanha Kwak, 2, and Xelha Kwak, 4, supported by Lunch volunteers Olivia McLeod and Peter Shervey. Picture: Brendan Radke

“and now I’m the President, what does that tell you?”

Mr Lennie added there were “a lot of people recovering from floods said it was an absolute godsend and they had nothing to cook with, they had nowhere to serve it, which was really good.

Cairns Community Christmas Lunch board member Paul Maguire, organiser David Lennie and board member Greg T Jones ensure that Alida Nduwimana, Kevin Bazungu, 7, Shukuru Bazungu and Leticia Bazungu have a traditional Christmas lunch of ham, turkey, roast vegetables and Christmas pudding with custard. Picture: Brendan Radke

Originally published as Spirit of Christmas celebrated at extravagant free lunch for 450