After celebrating Christmas with their children and grandchildren the night before, Newton residents Buzz and Margie Birnbaum woke up Wednesday morning and headed to St. Francis House in downtown Boston.

Helping serve festive plates of stuffed chicken breast, butternut squash, and more to roughly 350 homeless men and women, the Birnbaums felt the Christmas spirit.

“It’s so good to give back,” Margie Birnbaum told the Herald, as holiday songs played in the background. “It’s what Christmas is all about, giving and caring. What’s nice here is connecting to these folks, the nicest group of people.”

It marked the couple’s first Christmas spent volunteering at Boston’s largest day shelter, and next year, they hope to return with their three grandchildren, ages 19, 17 and 12.

“We are so lucky,” Margie Birnbaum added.

Every Christmas Day, St. Francis House opens its doors for a festive celebration featuring a restaurant-style holiday meal with table service in a warm and welcoming atmosphere decorated with holiday colors and a large adorned tree.

This year, the shelter had to shift its celebration across the street as it’s in the process of being renovated. The project started in August, with services and staffers being relocated into what had been St. Francis House office space – 18-foot-high cubicles and all.

Edwin James, 33, of Boston, visits the shelter about three to four times a week. He receives recovery services for a drinking problem, which he said he developed through depression from being homeless.

The shelter also offers meals, showers and clothes. James said he feels a “whole lot of love” every time he stops by.

Wednesday, he celebrated his first Christmas at St. Francis House.

“Look at the smile on my face,” James told the Herald, his excitement palpable. “I’m just so happy. It’s indescribable.”

James has been permanently homeless since 2017 as he battles addiction and mental health issues. Working with a case manager at St. Francis House, he said he’s hopeful he’ll secure housing in 2025.

“I believe in God, man,” James said. “I leave everything in God’s hands. I’m a firm believer in the serenity prayer. I’ve been through my battles, I try to make the right decisions and leave it in God’s hands.”

In the eyes of St. Francis House President and CEO Karen LaFrazia, Christmas is a “special” and “bittersweet” day.

“As I walked around here today, just sitting and chatting with people, any number of these people would make a wonderful tenant or neighbor,” she told the Herald. “The sense of gratitude and appreciation for what some of us take for granted, it’s really deep.”

LaFrazia’s shelter continues to grapple with an “unprecedented” number of people in need of its services.

Last year around this time, nearly 600 people experiencing homelessness turned out to St. Francis House every day seeking food, clothes, a place to shower, assistance in finding permanent housing and other resources.

The daily attendance count marked the largest it had ever been as the cost of living and rent escalated while affordable housing production lagged.

Those factors have exacerbated even more within the past year, LaFrazia said.

From July 2023 through June 2024, the shelter served 9,719 people – a roughly 23% increase in the number of guests from the previous fiscal year. Of that, about 30% are newcomers to the country.

St. Francis House broke ground in September on a 19-story, 126-unit affordable housing building on Lagrange Street, at the crossroads of Chinatown and Downtown Crossing. It hopes to complete the project sometime in 2026, aimed at recently homeless people and single families.

“The most significant difference we can make as a community, as a country, is making deep investments in affordable housing,” LaFrazia said. “Once somebody is housed, they are in a much better place to address whatever the issues are that may have led them into a homeless situation.”

Volunteers served festive plates of stuffed chicken breast, butternut squash, and more to roughly 350 homeless men and women on Christmas. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)