The Kinship at Christmas Foundation is celebrating its 15th year providing a free Christmas lunch for Blue Mountains residents.
Held at the Blackheath Community Centre from 10.30 am on Christmas Day, the foundation is gearing up for a larger turn-out than previous years.
Kinship at Christmas Foundation chairman Mark Ptolemy said the number of guests was getting larger as need in the community increases.
"Our guests are not simply people who have fallen on hard times, in fact, most of our guests simply do not have anyone else to celebrate Christmas Day with," he said.
"For many people, the real-life Christmas Grinch is loneliness."
Over the past 15 years the Kinship at Christmas Foundation has served thousands of Christmas lunches for people from the Blue Mountains, Lithgow, Hawkesbury and Nepean areas. The foundation's mission is simple: welcome everyone and provide a good meal and good company for anyone who attends, with no cost or no strings.
Mr Ptolemy said the success of the Kinship at Christmas Foundation is due to the regular volunteers who turn up each year.
"We have the most marvellous core group of volunteers, people that give their time freely during the festive season for others. It is a wonderful gift that they give to the community. Without our volunteers, we would not have been able to continue the service. As we are not affiliated with any church or organisation, we rely upon local volunteers to keep us going."
The future of the Kinship at Christmas looks bright as the foundation intends to expand the idea of "seed funding" to other like-minded community groups.
"This Christmas we have assisted in financing a Christmas Day lunch in the Hawkesbury. We have also assisted another community group in the Mt Druitt area with resources and planning on their inaugural free lunch. I hope we can continue down the path of assisting groups in many districts to provide safe and happy venues for people to spend Christmas day," Mr Ptolemy said.
"My hope is that we can fight Christmas day loneliness one plate at a time."