At around 5 p.m. every Thursday, rain or shine, the guests start arriving outside of Trinity Lutheran Church, Bismarck, N.D., for a banquet. Volunteers -- the true cornerstone of the Trinity community -- begin to greet the guests, visiting with them outside the doors that open promptly at 5:30. Regulars fill each other in on their weeks. Smiles are contagious. When the doors open, more volunteers will be waiting to escort guests to a table for a hot and delicious meal, free of charge. Unlike most of the meals they've had this year, this one will be enjoyed on a beautiful table setting, complete with colorful decorations, menus and real china and silverware. Sometimes there's even live music provided by the Strolling Strings.

The Banquet has served more than 58,000 meals since July 2005. It receives no state or federal funding -- it's a labor of love shared by Trinity and the Bismarck community.

The volunteers of Trinity's banquet return, week after week. "They say to me, 'I've heard about the Banquet and I'd like to serve,'" said Fennern. They come from churches and groups within the community, often hearing about it from a member of the Trinity congregation. They come from all walks of life. They get every bit as much -- if not more -- out of each Thursday's meal. Camaraderie. Conversation. The joy of knowing that they've not only helped nourish their neighbors' bodies with food -- they've nourished their souls with dignity, respect, and love.

The solution to hunger goes way beyond getting a person to their next meal. Every day, in ELCA ministries and companion congregations spanning the globe, people help their brothers, sisters, and neighbors, providing the food, shelter, education and resources to help eradicate world hunger.

"Everyone who comes is welcomed with a smile and shown hospitality.
It's not a handout."

In a large classroom at the local elementary school, 18 women are slowly gathering. Some are chatting quietly in small groups and others are simply sitting, waiting. Women from Keur Massar put aside their household duties for the afternoon in order to learn to read and write in Wolof.

Many of the women have never before attended school. Education for women has never been a priority in Senegal. Current statistics show that only about 28 percent of Senegalese women are literate compared to 47 percent of men. These statistics quickly come to life when the women participants tell their stories. Rokhaya Aw, the group leader for the Keur Massar class, said she quit school when she was 13. "I left because it was not important for me, for any woman, to continue. I was needed at home," she said. And this is exactly what the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America hopes to change.

Despite the darkness of the room, it's a colorful sight. Dressed in bright patterns and embroidered fabric, the women seem to have gathered for a social occasion. But something gives their purpose away -- they each hold notebooks and pencils.

Three times a week, for two hours at a time, these women come together to learn how to write and read their mother tongue, to add and subtract, to keep basic accounting books, and to care for their own bodies and their children's.

And, to hear from these women, book knowledge is not all they are learning.

"From being in this class, I feel I can control my life better. I understand more and I think more clearly," said Umi Daffé, a 40-year-old mother of five and a student in the Keur Massar class. Daffé's group is just one of 77 such literacy classes operated since 1997 through the ELCA-supported Galle Nanondiral Community Center in Yeumbeul, near the capital city of Dakar.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the Center has made a big difference in many lives in Yeumbuel. Its program, dubbed "Programme d'Alphabetisation, Priorite Femmes" (Literacy Program, Priority on Women), has included over 2,600 students, 95 percent of whom are women, with classes in Pulaar and Wolof, said Peter Hanson, an ELCA missionary and the former director of Galle Nanondiral.

The decade-long national program, which targets illiterate women between the ages of 15 and 39, was originally funded by World Bank matching funds as well as by the ELCA's World Hunger Funds and a grant from Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC), Hanson said. Since 2005, the Galle Nanondiral's literacy programs have been funded exclusively by ELCA World Hunger Funds and CRWRC.

"This program has been a great success for us on a number of levels," Hanson said. "In the past 10 years over 2,500 women have become literate in their own language. Galle has also begun to reach a different audience than was being served with our library, sewing classes, or sports programs. We have been able to expand our ministry beyond the limitations of our own space and funding, Hanson concluded." For more information on ELCA’s outreach activities contact Ava Martin at ava.martin@elca.org or 800-638-3522, extension 2941.

How the ELCA helps eradicate hunger:

• Last year alone, the ELCA collected more than $20 million through the ELCA World Hunger Appeal, a multi-strategy program designed to provide immediate relief, sustainable development, and to break the cycle of hunger through advocacy and education.
  
• Lutherans are creative in their giving; during Super Bowl weekend 2008, the ELCA, in partnership with other faith groups, raised over $10 million for hunger-fighting organizations across the United States via the "Souper Bowl of Caring." ELCA groups alone raised nearly $1 million.
  
• For every dollar given to the ELCA's World Hunger Appeal in 2008, over 71 cents supports relief of chronic hunger and poverty and development of communities around the world. Ten cents from every dollar given is spent on relief for chronic hunger at home. Education and advocacy for hunger issues receives 12 cents, and less than 7 cents goes to expenses.
  
• Worldwide, over 850 million people — one out of every six of our neighbors — are chronically hungry. But the good news is that eradicating hunger is possible. Thanks in part to the efforts of the ELCA and other faith-based groups, there are fewer hungry people in the world today than there were 10 years ago.