BATON ROUGE - Volunteers with St. Vincent de Paul used Christmas to serve hot meals to a host of homeless and needy guests.

Helpers were hard at work from mid-morning to about 1.p.m., preparing and serving holiday specialities.

And the charitable efforts didn't stop with a warm meal. Organizers set up a Christmas Store in the building's parking lot.

After eating a free meal, guests were invited to walk through the store and choose a Christmas present.

In addition to these gifts for adults, Sylvia's Toys was on site, ensuring that every child who ate a meal, also received a free toy.

St. Vincent de Paul has been serving the Baton Rouge community since December of 1865.

Their charitable acts don't begin and end at Christmas but are carried out throughout the year, on a daily basis. 

In fact, during 2019, St. Vincent de Paul's volunteers served over 260,000 meals. 

Click here to learn more about St. Vincent de Paul's charitable efforts.