Growing up, Alex Stang would help out every year at the food bank in her home town of Macklin.  So when she moved to Saskatoon she decided to keep up the tradition. 

"I think it’s important because there are a lot of us who are fortunate in our lives but there are also a lot of people who are less fortunate so it’s good to give back." said Stang.

He joined around 150 volunteers at the food bank's Christmas basket day on Saturday, distributing baskets to 2,500 single people and seniors.

The food bank says it’s a way to give a Christmas meal to someone who might otherwise not be able to have one.  

"People are really pleased and thankful," said Laurie O'Connor, executive director of the Saskatoon Foodbank and Learning Centre. "They wish us a merry Christmas as they go."

This year the United Way counted 372 homeless people in Saskatoon.  That’s up from 261 in 2008.  The food bank says more people come to the Christmas basket day each year. 

"For five years I've seen the number of people coming increase each year.  We get about 200 to 300 more people each year," O'Connor said.

The chicken farmers of Saskatchewan and Lilydale donated 2,00 processed chickens for the baskets.  The donation is valued at $15,000.

"It’s a very worthy project.  We work close with Lilydale and were fortunate they could work with us on this," said Diane Pastoor with the Chicken Farmers of Saskatchewan.

Julius and Annette Calyniuk also came through with a big donation of hams, and Les and Irene Dube donated fresh apples and oranges.  The food bank says thanks to the generosity of the people of Saskatoon everyone will have a Christmas meal to remember.