GUILDERLAND — Georgianna Pennacchia was helped by the church in her childhood and so she is returning the favor.

“My mother was ill, money was tight, the church helped us,” said Pennacchia.

Every Sunday, she would walk by herself from her Schenectady home to the Broadway Methodist Church, she said.

After she married and was expecting her first child, she and her husband moved to Guilderland. Her husband is Catholic so Pennacchia converted to Catholicism and said it felt right.

They belong to Saint Madeleine Sophie Church on Carman Road.

“Twelve months after converting, they asked me to be president,” said Pennacchia of the church’s food pantry, which she has helmed for four decades.

“We’re open to everyone,” she said of the pantry. “We serve people all week long.”

The food pantry also puts together baskets for 100 to 125 families for Thanksgiving, Easter, and Christmas.

Currently, Pennacchia is collecting Christmas gifts for 85 children served by the food pantry.

In addition to that, she is planning her annual Christmas party for children at Northern Rivers and St. Catherine’s Center for Children.

“I take the children that don’t get picked up for Christmas and have a party for them at St. Madeleine Sophie’s,” she said.

Pennacchia hosts the party in the old church and makes it as cozy as can be. “It’s very homey,” she said. “We sing carols and do games.”

Although some of the children are as young as 6, most are around 12 years old, she said; typically two dozen children attend the party.

“They’re older so they’re not as desirable,” she said, of being wanted in foster homes. “Their wish list is different too,” she said, distinct from the toys younger children want.

The party is a family affair. Pennacchia’s husband dons a red suit to play the part of Santa.

And the Pennacchias’ two daughters along with their grandchildren — 12-year-old twins, a 5-year-old, and a 3-year-old — all contribute, setting up as well as cleaning up.

Pennacchia knows how to help kids have fun. She owned and ran the Bright Beginnings daycare center in town for several decades, selling it so that she could care for her aunt. “She died in my arms at home,” said Pennacchia.

Now she is working at the other end of the age spectrum, instructing Guilderland seniors in Silver Sneakers, a physical-fitness program at the town’s senior center. Some in her class have become enthused about contributing to the Christmas party.

Pennacchia’s grandchildren help her with wrapping and baking for the party, which is on Dec. 22 this year.

The guest children each “open their three wish gifts at the party and bring other gifts back to the orphanage,” Pennacchia said.

Each of her four grandchildren take a gift from one of their own to give to the children at the party.

“It’s good for them to understand the importance of giving,” Pennacchia said. “I’ve been doing this since they were born.”