WINDHAM, Maine — Sometimes it doesn’t take much to help a neighbor in need, just a kind word or a sympathetic ear. People who would like to lend a hand to someone they’ve never met now have another option: making a simple home-cooked meal.
A nonprofit called Lasagna Love, started by a mother in California at the beginning of the pandemic, connects home cooks who want to make dinner for others and people who need a little boost.
Lasagna Love is simply a portal connecting strangers. It starts in the kitchen, where 207 met up with volunteers Kelly Smith and Jennifer Merrill as they whipped up a lasagna, but it ends with a connection.
Merrill and Smith found Lasagna Love through Facebook during the pandemic and wanted to help.
"Everybody needs a break," Smith said.
It's a basic idea that keeps growing. People who want a free lasagna meal go on Lasagna Love and request one. They can share what is going on in their lives or simply say nothing. They are then connected with someone in their community who wants to make them a lasagna.
Jennifer Merrill is a regional leader who matches volunteers with people who ask for a meal in southern Maine. She said every week there are more people who want to cook a dinner than ask for one.
The reasons people ask for a meal are as varied as the ways to prepare a lasagna. Merrill said sometimes it is a new mom or someone dealing with cancer, recovering from surgery, dealing with a death, or just feeling overwhelmed.
"People want to help other people, so I don't think people should ever hesitate or feel like, 'I don't qualify,'" Smith said.
Volunteers through Lasagna Love have made and delivered more than 150,000 dinners over the past two years.
Smith and Merrill delivered their lasagna to Cathy Dodge, whose mother recently died. Dodge found out about Lasagna Love through Merrill and was reluctant to ask for help at first.
"I was told by my mom a long time ago that it's a blessing to let someone else help you because you're blessing them as well," Dodge said.
It's a simple and small gesture of strangers helping each other and hoping to make their communities a little better, one lasagna at a time.