Mary Ann Ginnerty doesn't fancy herself as a cook. Yet she has been responsible for feeding approximately 100 people every week for the past four years.

Ginnerty will finish her tenure this month as the coordinator for the weekly soup kitchen at the Episcopal Church at SS. Peter and John. She has planned the meals and run the operation without pay since the inception of the kitchen, which serves lunch to the needy every Saturday.

“I like to read recipes and eat, but I'm not a good cook,” said the Auburn resident, who is moving to Massachusetts.

Ginnerty read about the kitchen in a newspaper add a couple weeks before it opened in April 2004. She attended an organizational meeting without knowing how she wanted to be involved, she said.

“They ask me what I like to do, and I said shop,” said Ginnerty, a retired counselor who used to work at the prison in Auburn.

Ginnerty eventually came to run the day-to-day operations of the soup kitchen, choosing the recipes, buying the food and organizing the meals.

On Mondays, she calls food banks to see what is available and form a menu. Tuesdays are for defrosting. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, she hits the sales for cheap food, and on Friday she makes last-minute changes to the menu.

“On Sunday after church, I nap all day,” Ginnerty said.

Each meal has to be balanced, she said. Every person is served soup, a main course, some kind of fruit, a vegetable and juice. However, that doesn't mean there is no variety.

Homemade Reuben sandwiches were a recent hit. And people always gobble up a recipe she once found for spaghetti pie, Ginnerty said.

“I wouldn't offer anything to my guests that I wouldn't offer to my family,” she added.

But surprisingly, the most popular items are the veggies, she said. One time, the kitchen was serving peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a child asked her if they had any Brussels sprouts, she said.

“People love any kind of salad or fresh vegetables,” she said.

The kitchen has grown since she started. On its first day, Ginnerty said volunteers served bananas, bologna sandwiches, soup and celery sticks to 19 people.

These days, they serve a minimum of 150 meals, though many of those are for guests who come back for seconds, she said. The kitchen serves between 6,500 and 7,000 meals every year.

Ginnerty said the kitchen is not even scratching the surface of the need in the county.

“There are people I know who can't get to the soup kitchen,” she said. “Some people are just sitting in their rooms and no one seems to care.”

Douglas Taylor-Weiss, pastor at SS. Peter and John, said Ginnerty's shoes will be hard to fill. Some churches that run soup kitchens have a paid staff person run its day-to-day business, he said.

“She really came in and helped to develop the whole concept and get us on the ground,” Taylor-Weiss said. “And she doesn't quarrel at all, which is a wonderful trait when you are dealing with a lot of different people.”

But he said he has faith that the church will find someone who will be able to pick up where she leaves off.

“Whoever we get next is going to be a different person and will have different gifts and qualities,” Taylor-Weiss said.

Ginnerty did have some advice for the next coordinator at the soup kitchen. Pasta is an important ingredient to make a meal go a long way. Never get low on garlic. And good deals can be found at local merchants, she said.

“Always have a backup plan, and follow a time schedule,” she said. “And make sure there is no waste.”

Want to help?

The soup kitchen operates from noon to 1 p.m. each Saturday, at the church, 169 Genesee St., Auburn. If you would like to learn more about volunteering, call the church at 252-5721.