GRAVETTE — Lines were out the door today (Dec. 25) at a popular cafe in Gravette that served up free, delicious Christmas meals.
The Hard Luck Cafe served the free Christmas meals a day after handing out toys to those who needed them.
"I just think it's wonderful that people care enough about other people to share something like this," said Gravette resident Cecile Henson. "It's amazing."
Henson has been living in Gravette for quite some time and said Tuesday that she didn't have anything planned for Christmas. She said she appreciates the people here at Hard Luck Cafe for taking time to whip up a hot holiday meal.
"I saw on the news last night that you can come up here and get Christmas dinner, then a friend called me this morning who lives in Bentonville and told me about it," she said. "So we didn't have anything planned for Christmas, so we weren't going to have anything for Christmas dinner, so we decided we would come."
Lexxi Vahle, the daughter of Hard Luck Cafe's owner, says this is the sixth year they have put on the free Christmas dinner, and it just keeps getting bigger and better each year.
"Just seeing all the people come in, and just seeing how many people they bring with them and how happy it makes them to be able to sit down with all those people, and come together and eat together," she said.
The dinner was served a day after the cafe hosted "Santa's Gift Shop." People from all over the community have been bringing toys to the cafe since Thanksgiving. Yesterday, they took a break from serving food to open the "Santa's Gift Shop." That event allowed anyone in need to come in and pick out some gifts to put under the tree.