Serving up holiday cheer, and meals, at the Charlotte Rescue Mission

With the help of more than 200 volunteers and community partners, the Charlotte Rescue Mission offered a free holiday meal on Christmas Day to anyone in the community who wanted one.

Rescue mission officials and others worked to transform the group’s campus on First Street near Bank of America Stadium into a fine dining facility complete with white linen table cloths and servers in white shirts and black bow ties. The rescue mission planned to serve more than 1,000 meals on Monday, as well as show movies all day and provide cell phones for guests to call loved ones.

The rescue mission provides a free, 120-day Christian residential program for people addicted to drugs or alcohol, and who are predominantly homeless.

“Our goal each Christmas season is to welcome any and all of our neighbors in need to be part of our Charlotte Rescue Mission family for the day with homecooked meals, beloved holiday films and plenty of decorations,” said the Rev. Tony Marciano, the rescue mission’s CEO, in a statement.

This story was originally published December 25, 2017 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Serving up holiday cheer, and meals, at the Charlotte Rescue Mission."