Lasagna Love, a nationwide and viral grassroots movement that aims to positively impact communities by connecting neighbors with neighbors through homemade meal delivery, has reached Battle Creek, MI!

Lasagna Love began somewhat by accident due to how negatively the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the lives of many at the essential and basic needs level. Food insecurity among children skyrocketed quickly; an issue further compounded by shifting home and work priorities often heavily shouldered by moms and heads of households. In an effort to alleviate some pressure, Rhiannon Menn, founder of Good to Mama, started delivering homemade lasagnas to families needing a bit of care. She saw an opportunity to be helpful to others during an unprecedented time of challenge. Her social posts offering help to families not only garnered meal requests, but also led to others asking how to get involved. In May 2020, “Lasagna Love” was born. The impact movement of kindness today spans the entire United States — currently reaching all 50 states in America, more than 1,000 cities including major metros: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Orlando, Sacramento and San Diego — supported by more than 20,000 volunteers who have delivered, on average, 5,000 meals a week across the country.  

“Lasagna Love exists to deliver comfort where we experience it most often—our family dining table – and to prove that even small displays of kindness can have profound and lasting impact,” said Lasagna Love founder Rhiannon Menn. “Our mission is not only to help address the rise in food insecurity, but to also provide a simple act of love and kindness during a time of uncertainty and stress and reduce stigmas associated with parents—especially moms—asking for help when it is needed most. We accomplish this by creating an easy and accessible way for every person to help a neighbor in need in a way that is comfortable and meaningful for them.”

Freetail Therapy’s Pledge

We have pledged two lasagnas each week for the next 8 weeks. After perfecting our base recipe, the cost broke down to about $11 per lasagna, including the disposable baking pan. Using as many homemade and homegrown ingredients as possible, since we have a constant supply of fresh herbs and eggs, as well as a seasonal supply of tomatoes, zucchini and squash – cutting costs even more. Shredded zucchini and squash mixed in with the cheese make this a kid-approved meal, they don’t even taste the vegetables!

I noticed each double batch I made had a tad more of each ingredient than I really needed. Naturally, I piled them on in even amounts, but I realized I could make a small lasagna in a loaf sized pan with minimal extra work and only about $1 increase in cost. The lightbulb in my head shined brightly, and I decided to do this with my next batch of lasagnas, and then hand out the single portion sized to a member of our homeless community.

For a total cost of under $100 a month, I can provide about 45 home-cooked, nutritious, hot and ready-to-eat meals to anyone requesting some neighborly love at no cost to them.

Want to request a FREE lasagna?

If you would like a hand with dinner one night in the coming weeks, sign up on Lasagna Love. Feel free to share the link with others: www.lasagnalove.org/request 

Want to support the cause?

We’re always looking for new cooks to make a meal for families! You can bake and deliver just one time, once a month, or make multiple lasagnas a week like we are doing. Head over to the Lasagna Love website to register as a Lasagna Chef and go through your training videos.

If you would like to help financially, there are three options. The first is to give directly to Lasagna Love, where your donation may be tax deductible. Alternately, you may give through PayPal to help us specifically provide for the Battle Creek, MI community. We will be posting weekly for the next 8 weeks to show our cost breakdowns and how many meals we were able to provide. We will also offer an Amazon Wishlist for shippable supplies. For the first option, please visit the Lasagna Love website for information on how to donate. For the second and third, consider giving below.

We welcome any help to offset costs, and anything over our pre-pledged guaranteed amount will allow us to increase the number of people we serve, as well as the amount of weeks to continue this project.

The button below will open a secure PayPal page where you can select how much and how often to give.

You can view our Amazon Wishlist HERE.

Assistance in any amount: a one-off offer or a continuous monthly amount is greatly appreciated. Anyone who helps out will be mentioned in our weekly updates, unless anonymous is requested.

Lasagna Love Promotes Positive Community Impact

Becoming a Lasagna Chef is simple. Anyone can volunteer to be matched with a family in need, and there is no commitment or expectation for giving. If a volunteer or family can deliver one lasagna or a salad, it is a welcome gift. If they can do more, Lasagna Love can match them with several families needing support. Lasagna Love volunteers have graciously tailored deliveries–dietary restricted and allergy-friendly– to the needs of each family. In fact, previously supported Lasagna Love families have signed-on as volunteers and are today paying it forward to other families in their community. By serving those within our immediate community, Lasagna Love volunteers know to whom they are giving a meal, and recipients know from where their meal came. This model ensures that each participant experiences the impact of giving and receiving – a memory they won’t soon forget.

As a volunteer-run movement of kindness, Lasagna Love welcomes extra pairs of hands as well as donations from individuals and local businesses which go to supporting operations or for groceries needed by volunteers who are able to prepare big batch deliveries but can’t afford the ingredients to make them. Local businesses that wish to collaborate with Lasagna Love will have their generosity highlighted through established promotional vehicles which include branded delivery letters. Lasagna Love “chefs” will place your family or business name on their delivery so the receiving family knows whose generosity made it possible. 

“No one needs to feel helpless at a time like this,” continued Menn. “Lasagna Love makes it easy for anyone to support others in their own community and as we’ve learned in our short journey, your actions don’t have to be big to make a big impact.”

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About Lasagna Love

Lasagna Love is a nationwide, grassroots community impact movement connecting neighbors with neighbors through homemade meal delivery and random acts of kindness. The volunteer run program abides by three simple principles: feed families, spread kindness and strengthen communities. Founded by a mom in support of moms, Lasagna Love has joined volunteers across all 50 states in America to supplant historic stereotypes related to requests for support. To learn more about Lasagna Love and how you can get involved, visit www.lasagnalove.org or our social channels, @WeAreLasagnaLove (Instagram and Facebook).