Diane Willette and Gail Bloom look through a scrapbook detailing articles, photos, and sheets documenting what foods were served and how many people came out to the early days of The Table.
They’re two of the women that started the community meal 30 years ago last month.
“Actually, Diane and I our the only two left of the whole original group,” said Bloom.
“Barb Thompson was our inspiration and our guiding spirit,” added Willette.
Willette says they were all members of Saint Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Rhinelander.
It was in early 1995 when they started talking about how they could do more outreach in the community.
They got the idea for The Table from Thompson’s sister’s church in Whitewater which held a free community meal called The Gathering.
“In the spring of 1995 Barb Thompson, Carol Knopps, Betty Helgeson and myself visited down at Whitewater to see how that how the gathering functioned,” said Willette. “Then we came back and we shared what we saw and the experience.”
St. Augustine’s provided the group $500 to get started. That along with donations from United Way and other outside groups led to the first dinner of The Table.
“Our first dinner was on September 29, 1995. It was a chicken dinner, and we served 22 people, 13 were from the parish, and 11 were guests,” said Bloom.
The number of guests grew over the years serving as many as 125 people in a night.
Bloom recalls how people would come early, visit with different tables, some would bring a deck of cards to play until the meal was ready.
“We had booster seats and highchairs, and there were young families that came, older people, and people from the Rhine Haus and just everybody from all walks of life,” said Bloom.
“That was our intent, was to just provide a place that people could come and enjoy a meal and some socialization and interaction,” said Willette.
A lot has changed over its 30-year history.
It’s gone from being held the last two days of every month to the last day of the month.
All the dishes used to be washed by hand, now there’s a commercial dishwasher.
They’ve had 30 different groups or families take each month to make the meals, serve, and clean up.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, The Table has been offering both the community meal at the church as well as deliveries.
“I just enjoy meeting the people. I've gotten to the point where I'm doing it enough now. I got my own little route, and I sit and visit with them for a short time,” said Corky Stoxen who volunteers to deliver those meals. “It's just fun.”
Stoxen says the meals are mostly delivered to people that don’t have cars or can’t otherwise make it into the meal.
“I've delivered up to almost 30 meals. That sounds like a lot of places, but we've got some people in town that get like, nine or 10 meals, and then they have all their neighbors in the apartment complex come over, and they have a little party with it,” said Stoxen.
Throughout all the changes, the mission has stayed the same: to provide the community with a good meal and good company.
“Everyone is welcome,” said Willette. “We just wanted to share a meal with the community.”
The Table has served thousands of meals over the last three decades.
The Table is held on the last day of each month at St. Augustine Church on Pelham Street in Rhinelander at 5:30 p.m. There’s no cost or registration.
