By Diana Rocco

POTTSTOWN, Pa. (CBS) – With carols and a Christmas message, the Chosen 300 hosted a dinner for dozens of families in need Tuesday night.

“Forty-percent of the people that we serve are under the age of 18,” Executive Director Brian Jenkins said. “A lot of families are living in homes that are making a hard decision, ‘do I pay my rent, do I feed my children’?”

This year, the need is greater than they’ve ever seen. On Christmas Eve the mission fed 300 homeless in Center City, but this night was about the kids and their families, whether they were eating or volunteering.

“A lot of these children are here to help and not just receive,” Pastor William Ball said.

Dozens of volunteers left their homes to give back to the people that need it most.

“It just makes you want to come back again and again,” Denise Sims said.

Sims said this charity helped her get a job and an apartment after months of homelessness and now she brought her grandchildren in for Christmas dinner.

After the four-course, homemade meal, every child left with a gift and all the adults left with the sense that their community is here to help.

the Chosen 300 has fed hundreds of families the past few nights, but they’re not just serving during the holidays, but touching lives all year long.