Temperatures hovered in the 30s, but recent visitors to a heated garage in Mount Joy Borough walked into spring. Purple drinking glasses, pink plates and pink napkins adorned two long tables covered with flowered tablecloths. Candles provided additional ambiance. Guests arrived for this monthly Supper Club decked in pastel colors to dine on ham loaf, scalloped potatoes, peas and carrots, rolls, and lemon cheesecake mousse for dessert.
Although the food and fellowship are offered for free, the club’s membership has what many would consider a heart-wrenching price tag. Most have lost a loved one they lived with, while a few attendees have never married and live alone.
Keith and Kathy Vogt host the monthly Supper Club so guests may enjoy a meal with friends.
“It’s not something I do for fame or glory,” Kathy Vogt says. “I seek out those who are lonely. The worst part is sitting down to eat without someone across the table.”
“One of the gifts of the spirit is hospitality,” Keith Vogt says. “We have that gift.”
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The Vogts operated a bed and breakfast from their Donegal farm for 26 years before selling the property in 2015. The family also hosted an annual Labor Day picnic for the farm’s neighbors.
They then built a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Mount Joy with 1,800 square feet — small by some people’s standards but large enough to invite a crowd. Hosting a monthly dinner “benefits everyone,” Keith Vogt says. “You can’t have a party if nobody comes.”
Pam Lutchman, left, of Mount Joy, gifts Kathy Vogt flowers ahead of the monthly supper club hosted by Kathy and her husband, Keith Vogt, inside the Vogt home in Mount Joy on Thursday, March. 21, 2024. This is the first supper club dinner Lutchman has attended.
Fostering fellowship
The Vogts find many guests through Calvary Bible Church in Mount Joy, though their church doesn’t sponsor the club. They also learn about widows and widowers through friends.
“It’s my party,” Kathy Vogt explains. “I’ll invite who I want.” (The Vogts do not advertise the dinners publicly, and guests must be personally invited.)
Consider fellow churchgoer Ernie Clinton of Manheim Borough. When Clinton’s wife died about a year ago, Kathy Vogt helped him pack up and donate his late wife’s crafting supplies.
“Kathy got to know me,” Clinton says. Along with her sympathy and advice, Kathy Vogt gave Clinton a printed invitation to the Supper Club’s next gathering.
“I’ve been coming ever since,” Clinton says.
“That’s what the ministry is all about,” Kathy Vogt explains.
In another instance, Kathy Vogt had her eyes on Judy Morley, who began attending the church about two years ago. “I made a point to get to know her,” Kathy Vogt recalls, because Morley came to worship alone. When Morley asked for a recommendation for someone who sews, Kathy Vogt offered to hem a few pairs of Morley’s pants herself.
“I’m willing to help people,” Kathy Vogt says, explaining that she can sew but doesn’t do professional alterations.
“I’m a widow, and I live alone,” says Morley, who lives in Mount Joy. “I had no idea what this was.”
“I come for the friendship, the fellowship, and, of course, the food,” says Kenneth Long of Elizabethtown. “I’ve known Kathy since she was in diapers.” Long says he was friends with Kathy’s parents. He started attending dinners about 20 years ago, after he lost his wife.
“This gets us out to meet people,” says Judith Wray of Mountville. The widow has been coming to dinner for about three years.
Dinner conversations, punctuated by bursts of laughter, revolve around church activities and what guests do to occupy their time.
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The beginning
The Vogts were sitting in church one Sunday in 1993 when Kathy Vogt said she heard God’s voice tell her to seek out church members who were lonely.
“I went up and down the pews and wrote a list,” she recalls.
About 12 guests joined the couple for the first dinner in June 1993.
“It’s more blessed to give than receive,” Kathy Vogt says.
Since then, the couple host the dinner the third Thursday of every month. Eating begins promptly at 5:30 p.m., and guests usually leave about an hour later. Many members don’t like to drive in the dark.
The couple used to hold monthly meals in their dining room, which can seat 24 with extra leaves added to the table. The group outgrew that space about a year ago, so the couple put air-conditioning and heat into their garage. Tables there can seat about 38.
Some members got married and left the group.
“This is not a dating service,” Kathy Vogt says, noting that most marriages involved partners not in the group.
At the dinners, men typically congregate at one end of a table; women fill in the remaining seats.
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Freshly cooked ham loaf is placed on a serving plate before being served to guests of the monthly supper club hosted by Kathy and Keith Vogt inside the Vogt home in Mount Joy on Thursday, March. 21, 2024. For the past 32 years Keith and his wife, Kathy, have hosted a monthly supper club for those who live alone.
The food
Even though “the price of food has gotten off the wall,” says Kathy Vogt, the couple provide food and supplies. “God has given us much.”
Meals revolve around casseroles, meatloaf or, perhaps, stroganoff.
“We often have a one-pot meal,” she says.
The Vogts usually bake their own bread for dinner, but for the Easter meal, they served rolls from a grocery store so Kathy Vogt could concentrate on her lemon cheesecake mousse. Food is served family style, with guests passing dishes.
The Easter dinner featured 15 pounds of Gene Wenger’s ham loaf, 15 pounds of potatoes, 3 pounds of carrots and five batches of lemon cheesecake.
The Vogts have begun planning the April gathering.
“I know I’m serving roast pork, but that’s all I’ve got so far,” Kathy Vogt says during a recent phone call.
Helping out
Granddaughter Megan Longenecker volunteers each month, something the 32-year-old has been doing for 21 years.
“It’s just a ministry to share Christ’s love,” the Manheim resident explains.
At first, Longenecker came to help cook because she was allowed to stay for dinner. These days, though, she cites two blessings she gets from each dinner: she gets to spend time with her grandparents and can visit with Supper Club members.
“It’s a way to bring people together for fellowship,” Longenecker explains.
Supper Club member Dave Anderson would agree. Anderson lives across the street from the Vogts. He joined the group about seven years ago.
“I like my neighbors,” he says, “and I like my neighbors’ friends. Then he paused to sip some water and gestured toward the group with his hands. “This is a pretty remarkable thing.”
