A Boston non-profit helped families bring joy home for Christmas with free gifts, food, and more on Saturday. 

The Boston Community Pediatrics, the state's first non-profit private pediatric practice, held its annual Holiday Shop event in South Boston. The group transforms the FW Webb Building into a Winter Wonderland for the whole family to enjoy. 

"Holidays are a wonderful time for most people, but if you are trying to figure out how to pay your utility bill how to put food on the table. It's a very stressful decision, so this is to make it a stress-free, wonderful, joyous time," said Boston Community Pediatrics ' Founder Dr. Robyn Riseberg.

All 1,700 of Dr. Riseberg's patients, most of whom would not have access to proper care without the non-profit, are encouraged to participate in the event. Parents can pick out gifts for the family and have them wrapped while children meet Santa Claus.

The non-profit also gives families fresh produce, gift cards to stores like Target, and fun, festive items like gingerbread houses and hot chocolate kits.  

"I feel like it's very helpful because sometimes it's a little hard, like life gets a little in the way, so having this is a huge help in our family," Anissa Teixeira said. 

Families grateful for the event

Eunice Placencia moved up from Florida with her family six years ago with almost nothing.

"During the holiday, it can be very expensive and hard to find certain gifts, so I just feel like this helped a lot with getting gifts and putting stuff under the tree," Placencia said. 

The event supports more than 400 families, which equates to around 1,000 people, for the holiday season.

Michael Melo has been coming to Boston Community Pediatrics since he was 5 years old. 

"It's a family, I mean, it's an environment where people come here out of different struggles, out of different situations in their household, and they come here to look for support," Melo said.

For more information about Boston Community Pediatrics, click here.