Running a soup a kitchen is a lot like writing a book; they both take a leap of faith.

Nancey West should know. She helped start the Lebanon Soup Kitchen in 1989, along with Marcy Huntsinger and others, and worked as a volunteer for several months until leaving because of family commitments.

She returned four years ago, after her children were grown. This fall she published her first book, "Miracles Among Us," about the Lebanon Soup Kitchen at 170 E. Grant St., run by the First Christian Church-Disciples.

"This is God's soup kitchen," West said. "Just being able to know the people who come here and speak with them is uplifting."

Relying on donations of food and money for its mission of serving dinner on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the kitchen volunteers never know what they'll be serving until that day. Typically they feed 60 to 90 people a day.

This year, 175 people showed up for Thanksgiving dinner, far more than had been expected. Fortunately, workers tossed one extra turkey in the oven, thinking they could use it for sandwiches later in the week. Everyone got fed, but nobody got seconds.

"We had enough because some how God always works it out," West said.

The soup kitchen doesn't turn anyone away and not all who come are destitute and down on their luck.

In her book, West describes an elderly wealthy woman who drove her Mercedes to the soup kitchen, in search of human company, not a meal.

"She called the soup kitchen her 'life saver,'" West said. "The people here meant a lot to her."

Once, in the early years, the kitchen had an excess of perishable food and several community members volunteered to store it in their freezers.

Hours after the driver assigned to deliver the food left the kitchen, West started getting calls from people wondering when he was going to show up with the food that needed freezing.

When he arrived back at the kitchen, he calmly explained that he had given all the food away to people on the street who looked like they needed it.

When West started to write her book three years ago, she approached the project with the same faith that had seen the soup kitchen overcome every obstacle thrown in its path.

As a freelance writer, she had written for newspapers and magazines, but had never attempted anything as daunting as a book manuscript.

"Every time I got to the next step it always worked out," she said. "It always does if you trust God."

West is currently working on a romance novel and another nonfiction book.

"Miracles Among Us" is available at Jan's Books, Courtney Creek, the Et Cetera Shop, the Grocery Outlet, First Christian Church and the Lebanon Soup Kitchen. The list price is $16.95.

For more information about volunteer opportunities at the soup kitchen, call 451-7667.