The spirit of Christmas was in full swing at Anton's Pasta Bar last week.
The Burnaby restaurant held its annual Christmas Eve meal for those in need on Dec. 24, feeding nearly 600 people, including children.
"Everything went down as scheduled, without a hitch," said Tony Obuck, manager of Anton's.
From 10 a.m. to just after 3 p.m., volunteers at the restaurant served chicken cacciatore, Caesar salad, ice cream, coffee and tea, to the hundreds of guests from Vancouver's downtown Eastside as well as families from Burnaby that need a little extra help during the holidays.
Around noon, Anton's was graced with a visit from Santa Claus, who took a break from his busy Christmas Eve schedule to hand out gifts to both the children and adults in attendance.
"Everyone had a great time," Obuck said. "There was a ton of volunteers (and) a ton of kids."
This is the 24th year Anton's has hosted the annual feast. Throughout the year, organizers collect gifts for adults and kids and then spend hours wrapping the hundreds of gifts in time for Santa to hand them out on Christmas Eve.
"It feels really rewarding at Christmas time when usually it's just the hustle and bustle of people going to malls and the commercial side of thing," Obuck said.
For volunteers, the best part of the event is watching all their hard work materialize right before their eyes, Obuck said.
"So many wonderful people look forward to putting the event together each year and seeing it materialize ... it's almost like a big sigh (of relief)," he added.
But organizers of the event only get one day of rest - planning for next year's charity meal begins almost right away, Obuck said.
"It's day rest, and the next day we're back at it again," he added.
