Close to 500 people, from those struggling with poverty or loneliness to cruise ship passengers in a city mostly closed, packed the Dunedin Town Hall yesterday for what was the biggest community Christmas Day dinner on record.
The new venue - for the past 25 years the dinner has been held at the St Andrew St Church of Christ - was a hit.
Organiser Grant Hardy, a trustee of the Acts of Kindness Charitable Trust which ran the event this year, described the atmosphere as ''an awful lot of joy''.
The Church of Christ venue attracted up to 280 people, but the town hall had about 400 as dinner was approaching.
Mr Hardy said capacity was 530, and a team had gone to the Octagon and attracted more from the Dawn Princess cruise ship, which was docked in Port Chalmers, or just those in the city centre.
''It was always part of the plan, if for whatever reason we didn't have the place full, that we would offer that hospitality.
''It's a nice thing to do.''
Close to 100 volunteers - people keen to volunteer had been turned away for the past three weeks, so popular was the role - worked on the day.
Gemma Tuhega brought her son Orlando (10) to show him ''there are people out there who don't have what he has''.
She was ''always keen to help others, but I think it's something special on Christmas Day''.
