An elderly gentleman rolled down the car window.

“What’s going on here?” he asked. “A Sunday buffet? Where can we park?”

That’s a typical reaction to Sunday buffet at Sisters Restaurant, and Sisters, Geraldine Umbehagen and Pat Rogers, are “banking” on the popularity of the Sunday buffet to carry over to tonight’s Relay for Life buffet because they are “cooking for a cause.”

All proceeds from the Sisters’ Relay for Life country buffet will benefit the 2010 Pike County Relay for Life campaign. The country buffet is one of the largest and most popular annual fundraisers, said Claire Murphy, Relay publicity chair.

“Everybody loves to eat and you won’t find a better place to eat than Sisters’ buffet,” Murphy said. “We appreciate their support of Relay for Life, and the Relay board is looking forward to being their waiters and waitresses for the night.”

Diners are encouraged to tip according to how much they have enjoyed the meal and the fellowship because all tips go to the Relay for Life campaign.

The doors will open at 5 p.m. for the country buffet that is guaranteed “fit for a king.”

“We’ll have just about anything that you want if you like country cooking,” Umbehagen said.

“Fried chicken and hamburgers steaks are always popular, but we’ll have other meats, too. We’ll have all kinds of vegetables and casseroles that our customers really enjoy — like the squash and broccoli — and we just might have the chicken casserole that a favorite. We’ll have a big variety of country cooking items and all kinds of desserts. You won’t go away hungry.”

And the $10 per person ($5 for ages under 10) will support the war chest of the American Cancer Society in its fight against cancer.

“We have been very blessed that we have not lost a close member of our family to cancer,” Umbehagen said.

“But we lost a member of our Sisters’ family, one of our cooks, Frieda Cawart to the disease. And, we have customers who have battled cancer and several who are battling cancer. We’re all touched in some way by this disease. We just want to do what we can in the fight against cancer. The buffet is what we can do and we are proud to be able to do it.”

Umbehagen said she’s not sure how many years Sisters has been “cooking for a cause.”

She guessed around eight.

“We started with the country buffet and then, for several years, we had a spaghetti supper but most people seemed to enjoy the buffet more,” Umbehagen said.

“So, if you like country cooking and want to join the fight against cancer, Sisters is a good place to be tonight.”