“May the borscht be with you,” read Brent Wiens’ T-shirt on at Bethany Mennonite Church on Saturday, worn to playfully celebrate the return of the Virgil church’s borscht lunch — last held in person five years ago.

As a regular at the annual lunch, before the hiatus began, Wiens was happy to be back for the gathering on Nov. 9.

“I’d come every year,” he said, recalling the drive-through version during the pandemic. “But it’s much better to sit down and enjoy it again.”

He said the T-shirt was entertaining to his family and friends, but more importantly, it symbolized the joy of reconnecting with people he hadn’t seen in years.

The church hall in Virgil was already busy by the lunch’s start-time of 11 a.m., as people lined up to enjoy the hearty meal of borscht, alongside fresh, homemade bread and desserts.

The $15 lunch on Saturday, which supports local and international missions, included more than just borscht.

Attendees could also purchase preserves, freshly baked bread and desserts, and take-home jars of borscht for $13 each, said Linda Van Bergen, one of three coordinators along with Katie Reimer and Pat Andres. Quilts and quilted items, organized by Sue Weier, were also for sale.

With more borscht prepared than ever before, the organizers were ready to meet the demand. “It’s a steady stream of people,” Van Bergen said.

While raising money for missions was important, the coordinators had another goal in mind.

“The reason for coming back to in-person lunch is that we want to serve the community and bring the community back out,” said Van Bergen.

Katie Reimer, another coordinator, also expressed her excitement about this year marking the return of the sit-down lunch.

Having organized the lunch for decades, missing out on half a decade was a substantial loss for the church community, said Reimer.

She said the main difference in the borscht lunch before and after COVID-19 is more emphasis has been placed on the lunch itself.

“We do have a few things like canned goods, but we don’t have the bake sale or the big flea market craft table we used to have,” she said.

One thing definitely hasn’t changed from previous years: The soup is still homemade, prepared by the church members in their homes.

“Linda was here on Thursday night, actually. They made three pots,” said Reimer.

Another thing that hasn’t changed is the community’s togetherness, which has endured even through the challenges of the past five years.