Buckhead groups donate meals to first responders working through the holidays

ATLANTA - While many of us are with friends and family this Christmas, hundreds of firefighters and first responders are not. They're working this holiday to keep us safe. That's why dozens of volunteers came together on Christmas Eve to show them support by bringing them a Christmas dinner.

"It's the ‘Ham Hall,'" Denise Starling, the executive director of Liveable Buckhead, said.

"We've got your traditional Christmas dinner," she said. "Of course, it's Atlanta, we've got to have honey baked ham, and we've got all the sides."

Volunteers with Liveable Buckhead and dozens of other organizations delivered meals to every fire and police station in the City of Atlanta. It's something the group began doing years ago.

"We started this during COVID, really just as an effort. You know, morale was down. Our first responders were just having such a hard time, and so we're like, ‘We really need to recognize them and thank them,’" Starling said.

"It's usually our same teams like to come back and do it again because it's just so much fun," Starling said.

"My boys are home for Christmas, and so they've helped me with this for the last couple of years, too," Doug Eidson, the president of the Rotary Club of Buckhead, added.

And first responders were appreciative of the show of support.

"I'm just thankful that I'm being thought about during this time, because sometimes you don't really want to be separated from your family during the holidays, but then you realize there's always calls, there's always people in need. And we're just appreciative that the community respects what we do," Firefighter Anare Holmes said.

"They're working during their holidays for the rest of us to celebrate with our families and keep us safe, so we just want to thank them. Just a small token of appreciation for what they do for us every day," Starling added.