BERMUDA'S homeless were able to sit down to traditional Christmas dinners thanks to the generosity of local churches.

More than 100 meals were served by volunteers from the Salvation Army and the Seventh Day Adventist last month ? a regular Yule-tide gift to the community from both groups.

The Devonshire branch of the Seventh Day Adventist Church opened its doors to those in need of a warm meal on December 21.

"This year, due to inclement weather, we had to change from our regular venue of Victoria Park to the Devonshire Seventh Day Adventist Church Upper Fellowship Hall," explained church member Tanya Bean.

"The change was made at the last minute so we collected our guests in our community services van and dropped them back in town when they were ready." Those attending dined on a traditional meal ? soup followed by turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce, macaroni and cheese, roasted herbed potatoes, cassava pie, string beans, carrots, rolls, and a selection of cakes for dessert ? while Christmas carols were played in the background.

Butterfield & Vallis donated the turkey while the rest of the meal was provided by Seventh Day Adventists.

"We served approximately 50 which is considerably less than we usually do," Ms Bean added. "We also delivered a number of dinners to those who could not make it to the Church Hall."

Before leaving, each of the dinner guests was given a Christmas card and invited to select a gift.

Cheree Lewis of the Salvation Army said her group served 75 meals during its annual dinner, sponsored by local IT solutions provider Applied Computer Technologies.

"It went very well," she said. "The numbers were pretty much what we average for the Christmas holidays."

The traditional dinner, which included cassava pie, macaroni and cheese and turkey, was served at the Hamilton Citadel.

"They pretty much had the works," she added.