Widows get early Valentine's Day treat at Sweetheart's Banquet

Forty widows enjoyed an early Valentine's Day celebration at the Fallbrook home of Mike and Dee McReynolds Feb. 10, when the couple hosted their 11th biennial Sweetheart's Banquet.

"Years ago it lay on me that the Lord says take care of the widows and the orphans," said Mike McReynolds in explaining how the Sweetheart's Banquet came about in 1998. "There are plenty of people around that take care of the cuddly little kids and orphans but there's nobody that really takes care of the widows.

"So my wife and I said, 'let's do something about that,'" continued McReynolds. "I mean, just because they lost their husbands doesn't mean that they don't want to be paid attention to and to have a little bit of love shown toward them."

The inaugural Sweetheart's Banquet was held at the McReynolds home in Vista in 1998 and attracted "15 or 20" widows from Stonebrooke Church. The McReynolds carried on the tradition when they moved to Fallbrook in 2010 and joined the congregation at Riverview Church.

The Sweetheart's Banquet is a first-class event. Drivers – male church members and members of the Fallbrook Vintage Car Club – pick up the ladies at their homes and escort them to the McReynolds residence.

The ladies are greeted at the door by volunteers who present them with flowers and give them a Valentine's hug. The special guests dine at tables adorned with linen, silverware and crystal, and sparkling cider, along with coffee and tea, is served with dinner.

"Everything went great," said McReynolds of this year's banquet. "As soon as they got here the ladies sat next to each other and immediately starting talking and didn't stop until they left because they were having such a good time."

McReynolds added the evening featured four entertainers, including harpist Heidi Fleischbein, who played during dinner. McReynolds' son, Keith McReynolds, emceed an after dinner program in which he asked the ladies to share stories about their weddings and honeymoons and other fun facts about their lives.

McReynolds said between drivers and others assisting at the house a total of 32 volunteers helped put on the event for the widows who came from Riverview, Stonebrooke and Christ the King Lutheran Church. McReynolds and his wife picked up the tab.

"We're blessed and we just want to do it that way," said McReynolds of covering the cost of the event.

McReynolds said he and his wife get great satisfaction from knowing how much the ladies enjoy the Sweetheart's Banquet.

"The first year that we did this we thought, 'well, that was fun, we really enjoyed this,'" said McReynolds. "Then we started getting thank you cards and we realized, hey, this a generation of letter writers. One lady wrote that it was her first time out in three years since her husband died. She wrote, 'you don't know what this means.' I've kept most of them (thank you notes). That's the joy there."

McReynolds, 71, is a retired contractor who currently serves as president of the Foundation for Senior Care in Fallbrook.

"I've always had a heart for seniors," said McReynolds. "That's why I got involved with the Foundation for Senior Care, so I could help out seniors the other 364 days of the year."