Held at the Orange Function Centre, the lunch is for people in need or who are on their own at Christmas and looking for some company.

The lunch is organised each year by the Orange Baptist Church and is co-ordinated by John and Shirley Webb but is not restricted to church members.

Kitchen co-ordinator Melissa Brown has been volunteering with her husband and three sons for most of the Christmas lunch’s 17 years and said between 300 and 400 people attend each year to enjoy a two-course meal of cold turkey, ham and roast vegetables followed by Christmas pudding, pavlova or apple pie.

“Some come from the churches but lots just want to make a difference on Christmas Day,” Mrs Brown said.

“We do have quite a number of children from the school [Orange Christian School] involved because we’ve been doing it for a number of years.

“We talk every year about the guests, we’ve got volunteers who come for the first time to people who have come for 10 years or more.”

Among them, Mrs Brown said, were cherry pickers, some of whom also helped at the event.

Mrs Brown said guests could be anyone who would otherwise be alone for Christmas, people in need, single people who were alone for the first time, those in community care and the aged.

“It’s great to be able to give lunch to people and enjoy their company,” Mrs Brown said.

The lunch will be at the Orange Function Centre at noon on Christmas Day.

To book phone the Orange Baptist Church on 6362 1553 or phone 6361 3100.

tanya.marschke@fairfaxmedia.com.au