Mahoning Valley - For the past three years the Saint Vincent de Paul’s kitchen is where you'll find Ed McCarragher on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. He starts cooking for the dining hall in Youngstown on the 24th from the turkey to all the fixings for a traditional holiday meal.

“[I] cooked almost four, five hours yesterday. I got here about seven this morning preparing the food and stuff,” Ed said.

It’s enough to serve about 250 people on a day that most dining halls and restaurants are closed. It’s a tradition originally put in motion by Ed's father that he picked back up three years ago.

“A couple years ago when Christmas fell on a Monday…it was like four days they weren't going to be open so we decided okay lets try this again,” Ed said about opening the dining hall on the holiday. 

But Ed doesn't work alone. The entire McCarragher family joins in on the tradition. Ed's wife, father, brother, sister, two children and his grandson all pitch in on the holiday making sure even the nitty gritty work gets done.

“Whatever needs to be done I’ll just fill in,” Beverly McCarragher , Ed’s Wife said. “I started out this morning doing deserts and then I was moved to coffee…so I’m versatile.”

“I tell them what we have to do and they say okay well I’ll do this, I’ll do that, I’ll do this, so that's how it gets done,” Ed said. 

The hour and half long lunch giveaway sees people of all kinds from those spending the holiday alone to smaller families needing a little extra help with a free meal.

“I know what it's like not to have family around at Christmas time and it's always nice to have a warm smile and somebody to greet you, to sit with you and just have some conversations sometimes,” Beverly said. 

All of the food is made possible by private donations that Ed collects months beforehand. A labor of love the three generations look forward to every year, welcoming in strangers as if they’re their own family.

“I’ve been with Saint Vincent de Paul for probably about eight years and the idea is to give back to the community,” Ed said. “It’s not making a donation where you're giving them money, you're physically feeding the need, which is what you know we enjoy doing.”

All the extra food from the lunch was brought to the Metropolitan Housing Authority in downtown Youngstown by the McCarragher's to make sure everyone got a hot meal Christmas day.