The first Thursday dinner fed eleven people. Pastor June made chili in a borrowed slow cooker. Today the kitchen feeds two hundred people every week.

Head cook Denise Mbeki plans each menu on Wednesday night, after she sees what the garden and the food bank truck brought in.

I never know what I'm cooking until the day before. That's the fun part.

A Thursday, hour by hour

• 2 p.m.: prep crew arrives and starts chopping.
• 4 p.m.: the big pots go on.
• 5:15 p.m.: tables set, kids' plates first.
• 5:30 p.m.: doors open.
• 7:30 p.m.: dishes, leftovers to the community fridge.

Her rule is simple: cook it like it's for your own family, because some weeks it is.