A local Lutheran pastor really, really wanted this. He wanted to start a free weekly supper - served at tables with real china - for whomever would want to come.

But the Rev. Steve Sathre of Trinity Lutheran Church was waiting for some experienced help, someone he knew to help him start it.

It didn't quite happen that way. It happened God's way, he thinks.

Retiree Tudy Fennern, 68, was someone Sathre hardly knew.

When the church put out a sign-up sheet for the banquet, Fennern, a new church member, signed up to cook. And then she kept asking when it was going to start. Problem was, the church still didn't have an organizer. Office manager Jan Sparrow finally asked Sathre what to do with the eager Fennern.

Sathre sat down with Fennern for a couple of minutes. Found out she was passionate about this. Found out the retired X-ray technician didn't have any experience. But asked her, anyway - "It was a leap of faith."

He asked her if she wanted to start the banquet. "She gulped and turned red,"he said.

Five months later, in July 2005, the first one was held. Fennern had done it. The Banquet now serves more than 300 people each Thursday.

There are homeless families, lonely singles and people such as the out-of-town woman who had just finished a chemotherapy treatment. Her nurse had suggested she go to The Banquet to get a good meal.

"The truly amazing thing is that Tudy had never done anything like this before,"Sathre said. "… she let her compassion lead her and she made all this happen."

- Virginia Grantier