Delivering Community, One Lasagna At A Time

BREWSTER – Lasagna seems to be the true neighbor delicacy. 

It’s the perfect dish to help ease the day of a struggling community member. It’s a hug, wrapped in the words “I’ve got your back,” without uttering a single thing. For Lasagna Love, that’s the whole mission. 

Founded in 2020, Lasagna Love was born from the idea of neighbors helping each other get through the uncertainties of COVID-19 together. Rhiannon Meen, founder of the nonprofit, designed a platform that connects neighbors for home-cooked meal deliveries. 

It became an international movement, and Lasagna Love made its way to Cape Cod, where it is now led by Nancy Johnson and Chris O’Neill. 

Johnson, a Brewster resident, has been with the organization since close to its inception. She works each week to make sure the pairings are correct and the lasagna requests are equally distributed across volunteers. 

Requests are entered through the website at lasagnalove.com. There, community members can request a lasagna for themselves or someone else. Once requested, they get matched to a volunteer, who makes the dish at home and coordinates a contact-less delivery. 

In Massachusetts alone, Lasagna Love has delivered nearly 41,000 lasagnas, feeding more than 155,000 people, including over 60,000 children. 

Governor Maura Healey recently commended the organization, saying, “These numbers reflect the goodwill and charity of our state’s constituents, and we are incredibly proud of the work and advocacy that has gone into achieving such an accomplishment.”

With National Lasagna Day coming up on July 29, Lasagna Love Chief of Staff Donna Disbrow said they have a goal of 500 new volunteers, feeding 50,000 people and raising $100,000. 

On Cape Cod and the islands, Johnson said they do things a little differently. 

“We, locally, are a little bit different,” she said. “Every month, we support nine to 10 local shelters from here [Brewster] up to Plymouth.” 

That’s in addition to the individual requests they receive. Their donations to the shelters range from 12 lasagnas every Friday to two or three once a month, sometimes as many as eight. 

While volunteer numbers fluctuate, they usually have anywhere from 180 to 200 people waiting to connect with a neighbor requesting a meal. But Johnson says they always need more. 

“Volunteering is incredibly flexible,” she said. “In addition to setting your own schedule, how often you would like to participate and how many lasagnas you'd like to make, we also encourage our volunteers to make a lasagna or two or three and deliver them to our Lasagna Love freezer here in Brewster. We then use them as needed, especially when there is an emergency. We also are always looking for volunteers who just want to drive and deliver which then allows our chefs to cook and a driver can pick it up from them and deliver.”

This summer, they will also be delivering lasagnas for some of the Cape Cod Baseball League teams, including the Brewster Whitecaps and the Orleans Firebirds. 

Johnson said they usually get 30 to 50 individual requests a week. But she knows there could be more. 

“There’s a lot more people in need than that,” she said. 

With Lasagna Love, it’s more than just a donation. Volunteering means you are making a difference for someone in your community. That’s one of the key things that Johnson resonated with when joining the organization. 

“It’s one of the few organizations where you have neighbors volunteering to help other neighbors,” she said. “It’s such an immediate good feeling of being able to help each other. It’s a direct impact.” 

For more information on volunteering or requesting a lasagna, visit lasagnalove.com.