UTICA, N.Y. -- After serving more than 1,000 meals, Rescue Mission of Utica members can say it was another successful Christmas day.

Festivities started with a worship service in the Clarence Seaburg Chapel and ended with a meal and a gift.

More than a hundred volunteers helped this year.

The meals require a lot of donations, time and hard work, but Executive Director Jim Haid said the community always comes through and makes these events possible.

"We've been really blessed. We had a lot of turkeys coming in for Thanksgiving obviously, and we served our wonderful Thanksgiving turkey dinner here. We've had some of those turkeys roll into Christmas," said Haid.

Donations tend to slow down after the holiday season, but officials hope people will be inspired to donate year-round.