In November 2013, John Giovanni, owner of Pie's On Pizzeria, decided to offer a free meal to anyone who was going to be alone or could not afford a meal on Christmas Day.

"This was the first year that we started this, so it was a little disorganized," said Kellsey Egner, who acted as the restaurant's spokesperson on Christmas Day. "I visited with my folks yesterday and I left my boyfriend's parents' house around four. I think this is pretty important. We had some ideas of what we would need, but after the article appeared in The Press, things really took off."

According to Egner, the volunteers delivered more than 100 takeout orders before 5:30 p.m.

"We contacted the high rises on Third Street, 118 Bridge St. and 1400 Main St. in Northampton. The volunteers took the orders over," she said.

More than 25 people volunteered to help the effort, most of them from Catasauqua. There was a backup list of others willing to help.

"We had help from people who donated food and money," Giovanni said.

Jessie and Annette Englerd donated desserts and Leonard Witt and his wife donated time and money. David and Erica Hodes also gave of their time. Anthony & Sons Bakery donated bread and Coca-Cola donated drinks.

The Catasauqua Food Bank donated a few turkeys.

"We had plenty of donations and help from our customers," Giovanni added. "The Keller and the Getz families helped out, as did Carol and Dennis Roach."

There were many others who contributed to the effort.

Egner, along with Christina Lewis, also volunteered. They are both employees at Pie's On Pizzeria.

"We came to help the volunteers find stuff they needed, but they are the ones mostly running things," said Egner.

In addition to calls for takeout orders, the restaurant had about 25 customers an hour.

Pie's On Pizzeria is planning to expand into the warehouse area along Pine Street.

"We'll have a bigger place during the summer," Egner said. "Next year at Christmas we will be able to serve more people. Our regular customers really responded to our Christmas dinner."