Living to serve in Pandora

PANDORA — Janice Augsburger has been cooking nearly her entire life, and she's not tired of it yet.She often helps at her church, Pandora United Methodist Church, with its monthly community dinners. Last week, she arrived to help ready the dinner — but she mainly focused on cleaning up afterward. She's not after all the glory.The community meal is free and is done as an outreach by the church's missions committee. It's a time for people to be social, a way for them to support the church with donations (accepted but certainly not expected), an outlet for a hot meal for those up against it in a slow economy. It's such a varied crowd that there's no stigma.“I just think it's a nice atmosphere. It isn't religious-based,” Augsburger said, explaining some people don't care for faith being pushed onto them. “We usually get a nice, balanced meal.”And it's no small feat. Augsburger helped serve almost 75 meals last week.Augsburger grew up in the country “in a big brick house that said ‘God Bless Our Home' on it,” she said. She is the youngest of seven children who grew up on that farm, growing and canning their own produce in a huge garden. She learned how to cook mainly from older siblings, focusing on big Sunday dinners with everyone around the table.“As the older ones got married, we just kind of took over” the cooking duties, Augsburger said. “It was fun. I would never give up a big family for anything.”Their mother died when she was 9 years old, and their father died when she was 15 — and at that point, they moved to town. She and her second-youngest sister, Marilyn, first lived with a brother for a time and then they were old enough to live by themselves. They've lived together ever since, never marrying.Sister Marilyn worked in the kitchen at the Hilty Home, so she learned how to cook for a large groups. Augsburger and her sister have done catering of weddings and different events when asked.“We're getting older, so maybe not very much longer,” she said, laughing.Her favorite meals are the classics.“I like Thanksgiving dinners. I like turkey, dressing, cranberries,” she said. “That's my favorite meal and we have it often. ... We rarely go out to eat.”Have a suggestion for who should be featured in this spot? Email amcgee@limanews.com.