In between running drinks to visitors and coordinating volunteers, Kristin Morrissey looked around the room at Tam’s BackStage restaurant and took in the scene at the annual “Helpings of Hope” event.

For Morrissey, the event signified the start of the Christmas season.

“If this doesn’t put you in the Christmas spirit, nothing will,” said Morrissey, the chair of the Forsyth County Board of Education.

Morrissey was just one of more than a dozen volunteers on Monday, Dec. 2, who helped serve a holiday feast for local senior citizens and those in need that is held every year by Brian and Kelly Tam, owners of Tam’s BackStage.

On Monday, the restaurant served lunch to about 100 seniors and dinner to more than 250 people from various nonprofit organizations like Abba House, Bald Ridge Lodge, Family Haven, Jesse’s House and The Place of Forsyth County.