By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN

dobrien@dailynews.net

WaKEENEY -- The Prairie Faith Youth Ministry was hunting for a fundraiser.

Hunters always are looking for a good hearty breakfast on the opening day of pheasant season, Curt Fabrizius told his niece, Olivia Fabrizius.

It seemed a perfect match four years ago, when Olivia was president of the Prairie Faith Youth Ministry. And it's still going strong today.

Olivia has since graduated. But her younger siblings and members of their youth ministry group from several Lutheran churches in the area arose in the wee hours of the morning Saturday to start preparing breakfast for hunters of all ages.

Workers arrived at Bethlehem Lutheran Church at about 4 a.m., and by 5, several hunters showed up, hungry and ready for a warm meal.

With mothers Sarah Fabrizius and Dee Dee Heronemus supervising, their daughters Amelia Fabrizius and Kayla Heronemus, sophomores in high school, scrambled eggs along with classmate Beth Hafliger.

Meanwhile, younger siblings Isaiah Fabrizius and Kylie Heronemus, both seventh-graders, were busy cutting cinammon rolls and kuchen and placing them on individual serving plates.

About 20 members of the youth ministry were scheduled to help this weekend -- another breakfast was scheduled for today, beginning at 5 a.m. and running to 8:30 -- and take turns on different shifts.

"We were the last ones to sign up, I guess," Isaiah Fabrizius said in reference to the first middle-of-the-night shift.

The Heronemus faily attends Bethlehem Lutheran Church, while the Fabrizius clan attends Zion Lutheran Church at Trego Center about 9 miles south of WaKeeney.

"That's the joy of the shared ministry; we have no boundaries," said Lynelle Shubert, in charge of the breakfasts this year after Barb Hendrickson "retired" from that responsibility when her youngest children, twins William and Jami, graduated from high school last spring.

Nonetheless, Hendrickson still helped out this year.

"I was buying our sausage and had 6 pounds of seasoned sausage, and who walks in but Barb Hendrickson," Sarah Fabrizius said.

"She said that wasn't going to be nearly enough, and I looked, and our list was for just one day," added Fabrizius, who promptly doubled her order.

It didn't matter.

So many hunters showed up Saturday that the youngsters ran out of food and had to go to the store to get enough supplies to make do until they could go shopping for today's breakfast.

"That was amazing," Sarah Fabrizius said. "I think it helped that we advertised better this year."

Shubert said the area youth ministry group has multiple fund raisers to help offset costs for trips to a national youth gathering sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America every three years.

"There's no place to get breakfast in the morning other than the truck stop," Shubert said. "Hunters breakfasts hadn't caught on yet out here, so we decided to give it a try."

Now, it's the youth group's biggest fund raiser.

The youth group purchases the food, except for the eggs that a couple of families donate, and each family donates cinnamon rolls or coffee cake.

In addition, McDonald's of WaKeeney donated cups, plates and plastic silverware.

There is no set charge for the meal of scrambled eggs and bacon, biscuits and gravy, coffee and orange juice, and a cinnamon roll or coffee cake. It's a freewill offering instead.

Less than an hour into Saturday morning's breakfast, there were numerous 10- and 20-dollar bills in a wicker basket that sat on a table with the plates and silver ware.

"I think we earn more by not charging, and just having it be free will," Sarah Fabrizius said.

"The hunters are very appreciative of a good meal," Shubert said. "We're not skimpy with our sausage or gravy, and (hunters) usually reciprocate."

One hunter who didn't eat much Saturday was Donovan Colby from Manhattan.

Anticipating his first hunt with his dad, Jason Colby, and other relatives, the 6-year-old was too excited to eat more than a few pieces of bacon.

Jason, decked out in an orange vest and an orange cap cinched up to the last notch,

That didn't stop the rest of his party from filling up before heading out to the fields.

"It's hard to find places to eat that aren't packed," said Chris Rhoades from Hays, Donovan's uncle.

Hunting is a longtime tradition for the Rhoades family.

"When I was his age, my dad would come get me out of bed early in the morning, and I'd be dressed already," said Chuck Rhoades from WaKeeney, Chris' dad and Donovan's grandpa. "All I had to do was put on my boots."

"He was the same way," Rhoades added, pointing to oldest son Chris. "When he was young, he'd get out of bed in the morning (of opening day), and he'd already be dressed."

Chris Rhoades is enjoying the same experiences with his sons.

Chris' oldest son Josh, 21, was among the hunting party Saturday, although 10-year-old Tucker wasn't.

"He's hunting with his other grandpa this weekend," Chris Rhoades said of Mike Gnad from Hays.

And it won't be long before his youngest son, 2-year-old Brett, joins them.

"As soon as he sees my green on," Chris said of his camuoflage-colored clothing, "he knows what I'm doing."