The Spirit is in the soup

Mary Ann Ginnerty, dedicated volunteer at SS. Peter and John's Episcopal Church Soup Kitchen, will tell you she isn't the best when it comes to the finer art of culinary creations, but ask her to come up with a meal plan to feed a couple hundred, and she's your gal. “I'm not a good cook,” admitted Ginnerty, who will be recognized Wednesday by the Cayuga County Chapter of the American Red Cross for her commitment to feeding the hungry during this year's Great Heroes luncheon. “But I like to eat, and I'm OK at enhancing (entrees) after someone else gets them started.”

A call for volunteers in an article which ran in The Citizen two years ago caught Ginnerty's eye at a time when she was looking for something to fill up the free time left following her retirement.

“I had worked as a psychiatric social worker for 15 years and then put in 10 years at the Auburn Prison as a correction counselor. I retired from that and started chemotherapy the next day. By April of 2004 I was feeling better but also bored.”