Greg Pelligreen of the Americana Music Academy in Lawrence entertains guests at the 23rd annual Community Christmas Dinner, including Zoella Julian, dressed as Super Girl, and her sister EilySkye Julian.

For the 23rd consecutive year, hundreds of people gathered at the First United Methodist Church on Christmas Day to share in the free, traditional Community Christmas Dinner, while hundreds more who weren’t able to come there had dinners delivered to their homes.

“There’s no place else in Lawrence, ever, where you’re going to find a judge, a former city manager and homeless people sitting down at the same table and eating together,” said Deb Engstrom, one of the lead organizers. “It crosses all income, racial and socio-economic lines. It also brings out the best in the community because they have to donate and they have to volunteer in order to make this happen.”

Engstrom has been involved in the annual yuletide event almost from the beginning, and anyone who walks through the basement of the church at 946 Vermont St. on Christmas Day can tell she has refined the process to a science.

Greg Pelligreen of the Americana Music Academy in Lawrence entertains guests at the 23rd annual Community Christmas Dinner, including Zoella Julian, dressed as Super Girl, and her sister EilySkye Julian.

At one end of the hallway, two tables lined with volunteers work like assembly lines filling Styrofoam boxes with turkey or ham, stuffing, green beans and mashed potatoes. Filing in line between the tables, more volunteers holding slips of paper with addresses pick up the boxes from the end and head out in their own vehicles for delivery.

Meanwhile, the aroma of roasted meat wafts into the hallway from two different kitchens, each filled with more volunteers who slice the meat, mix the stuffing and warm up gallons upon gallons of canned corn and green beans. Some of it gets packaged up for delivery, but much more goes into a buffet line in the main auditorium of the church.

And then there’s the pie — table after table of fresh-baked, homemade pies, neatly cut and set out for guests to admire and choose from.

“It’s tons of fun. Everybody has a good time,” said Sarah Wallace, who has been volunteering and eating at the community dinner for several years. “We get together and catch up, because some of these people you only see once a year, so it’s fun to get together and work on things together, serve together and eat together.”

Her friend, Brooks Hanson, said that for him, the annual dinner is a way of giving back to the community.

“I do meals on wheels as well,” he said. “As I’m getting older, it’s nice to be able to do nice things for people. Everybody should have to do something for somebody who’s less fortunate, or not even less fortunate. It’s just nice to be nice.”

This year, Greg Pelligreen provided the musical ambiance. Clad in a Santa hat and wielding his acoustic guitar and harmonicas, he wandered the dining area singing Christmas carols and engaging with children.

Pelligreen is part of the Americana Music Academy in Lawrence, a nonprofit group that promotes American roots music and which has been taking part in the community dinner for a number of years.

For people like Mary Louise Taylor, 64, whose husband passed away not long ago, the dinner is an opportunity to get out and enjoy life.

“I just like to fill myself for Christmas,” she said.

Irma Tesar, who has been volunteering at the dinner for eight years, said reaching out to people who might otherwise be forgotten at Christmas is what the dinner is all about.

“It gives them hope, for one thing,” she said. “It makes them feel good that there’s somebody that cares.”