A group of about 56 volunteers from various area businesses and organizations is coming together Friday at the American Rescue Workers (ARW) to provide their neighbors in need with a special meal for the holidays.

The Christmas Food Distribution at ARW, 643 Elmira St., will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday or until supplies run out. There is no pre-registration for the distribution, but anyone who is interested in receiving the fixings for a Christmas meal is urged to come early, according to Jennifer Rempe, director of development and community engagement at ARW.

“It’s really important that folks know there is no pre-registration required this year, which is a really great thing. It should make it even more seamless than in years past,” Rempe said.

“We do encourage people to come in the morning if they can, because if we do run out, when it runs out, it runs out,” she said.

This year ARW is preparing to distribute 800 boxes.

The boxes contain all the fixings for a traditional Christmas meal including a ham or turkey. There is also a box of dry goods with a variety of different things such as canned vegetables and a produce bag with apples, carrots and potatoes. In addition there will be a half-gallon of milk, a dozen eggs, a loaf of bread and an additional box of stuffing distributed.

To access the distribution site, people must enter Elmira Street from either direction of Park Avenue.

The fire department will be there spending their day with us and they’ll help direct that traffic flow,” Rempe said.

There will be two lines going north up the hill on Elmira Street and then the cars will exit right onto High Street.

“We accept walk ups as well. But nobody will be able to park at the traditional ARW parking lot,” Rempe said.

“There will be some people that will be going into the Social Service Center for other reasons. If they do need to go into the Social Service Center for any reason, they would just need to tell the person that is directing traffic that they’re not going to the Holiday Food Drive, they’re going to the Social Service Center, and then we would wave them in, but they would be few and far between,” she said, adding, “for the most part, the only people we really want on Elmira Street are the people that are going through the holiday drive to get the food for their Christmas meal.”

Last year ARW planned 1,200 boxes, but because of bad weather, they didn’t hit that number, so this year they backed the number down.

“Even though there was a SNAP debacle, we feel really confident that 800 will be plenty. But again, we do encourage people to come in the morning,” she said.

If by some chance someone does not come to the distribution, the food pantry operated by ARW will be open up until Christmas Eve with normal hours and then will re-open the day after Christmas. However there may not be ham or turkey although there will be other protein products available, Rempe said.

She noted that the food pantry has seen an increase in regular food distribution of about 20 percent due to some SNAP benefits being reduced.

During the distribution, the thrift store on Elmira Street will be closed as there is no parking.

Although the weather forecast for Friday is calling for cool temperatures with possible snow or rain showers, Rempe said she hopes that doesn’t keep people from coming to the distribution.

“Folks don’t have to get out of the car. All they have to do is drive up the hill. They can come on their bicycle, and we’ll help. We have ways to help get them home, or if they get dropped off, we have a way to help get them home. So hopefully the weather won’t keep him away,” she said.