For two decades, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Zion has been volunteering in the soup kitchen at the Shalom Center in Kenosha.

On Saturday, members of the mosque were at it again, cooking chili, cornbread and brownies. It was business as usual for the group, which handles the cooking and serving duties at the center at least once each quarter, but special too. In honor of an annual day of volunteer service sponsored by USA Weekend magazine, the group was under consideration for a National Make a Difference Day Award.

The awards are given each year by the Newman’s Own foundation to 10 organizations that spearhead volunteer activities on Make a Difference Day. Awards, which come along with a $10,000 grant, will be announced in April.

Aaisha Autry of Kenosha leads the volunteer efforts for the Ahmadiyya mosque. Although she and fellow community member Dhiya Bakr said members of the mosque hope to be considered for the award, Saturday’s work for the soup kitchen is part of the group’s normal routine.

“Serving other people is part of our faith,” Autry said. “In our community, everyone is supposed to serve.”

On Saturday, members at work included grandmothers like Autry, teenage boys and young children who performed simple tasks, such as setting tables.

The Ahmadiyya mosque has been in Zion since the late 1950s or early ’60s, Autry said, and it draws members from around Lake County, Ill., and southeastern Wisconsin.

It is a member of the larger Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which was founded in 1889 and has members in 180 countries. The group was established in the United States in 1921, the first American-Muslim organization.

As part of the Zion mosque’s mission of service to the community, members of the mosque regularly volunteer at homeless shelters, food pantries and soup kitchens in the region.

They have volunteered at the Kenosha soup kitchen for 20 years. The Shalom Center, 1713 62nd St., organizes a series of programs for area residents in need, including a daily soup kitchen.

The program, which feeds about 100 men, women and children each day, is staffed by a rotating group of volunteers, mostly from church groups and not-for-profit organizations.

The last eight years have sometimes been uncomfortable ones for American Muslims, but Bakr and Autry said their mosque and their families have largely found acceptance in the community.

They said they believe their regular volunteer work and interfaith meetings with other religious groups have helped them bridge differences.

Bakr said she has found many people are simply curious.

“I think for us as Muslims it has been a positive because it makes people ask questions,” she said.