Vancouver Island's largest independently owned furniture serves up more than furniture.

Gordy Dodd's 26th annual Our Place Christmas Dinner returned to fund free dinners at Our Place Society, filling bellies with turkey, potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, gravy and pumpkin pie for the less fortunate. Our Place Society CEO Julian Daly called the annual dinner a signature event that brings people together. 

"Many of the people we serve either can't afford a Christmas meal or don't have a home, so they can't cook a Christmas meal or don't have a family," Daly said. "So this is their family." 

Daly called Dodd a living legend, noting many members of the Our Place community introduce themselves to him and know him by name. 

"When you are down on your luck, and you are going through a rough time, and someone is there for you, providing a lovely meal for you, people don't forget that," Daly said. "(Dodd's) a man with the biggest heart." 

The local entrepreneur, known for his quirky television commercials, has helped serve more than 25,000 meals in 26 years and expects to serve more than 750 meals this Christmas.

"We are all brothers and sisters," Dodd said. "If I can make some people smile, make some people happy, so that gives me happiness."

He has no plans to stop the annual giving he started in 1998. 

"(As long as) I am alive, it's going to be like that, he said.