WEST CARROLTON, Ohio (WDTN) – Memorial United Methodist Church in West Carrolton carried out their holiday project to give back to the community on Saturday.

“It’s just a good thing for our community. Every year, you have people who need this…and this year was needed even more than usual, so we want to make sure that happened,” explained Jim Folker who is one of the seven event organizers. “[Operation Share Christmas] has been done for 30-something years and the lady who usually does it fell ill. So we decided we wanted to make it happen again.”

This year, organizers say they saw a surprising trend when it came to donations and participation.

“I was concerned [about] what the generosity might be because of people being out of work,” said Folker. “but honestly people have been more generous this year than they have in the past.

Thanks to donations from organizations including West Carrollton schools as well as private individuals, more than 150 families were given about a week’s worth of food. Volunteers also delivered food to low-income nursing homes and group homes in the area.

This was all to give-back just in time for the holidays.