In the summer of 2021, Dennis DiPlacito was watching TV when he saw a segment about Lasagna Love, a grassroots movement sweeping the nation in which volunteers cooked lasagna for neighbors experiencing challenges during the coronavirus pandemic.
He immediately felt compelled to join, he said, as he’d previously cooked meals for his elderly parents in Northern California – and grew up in an Italian family that made lasagna from scratch.
Nearly three years later, Lasagna Love has provided more than 430,000 meals to upwards of 1.8 million people in three countries, and DiPlacito has delivered 75 lasagnas of his own to residents across Orange County.
DiPlacito, 71, said the experience has been life-changing, has introduced him to Orange County residents of all walks of life, and has allowed him to help others – one 9-by-13-inch pan of pasta at a time.
“These are families that have lost jobs, have people in the hospital, or are trying to work from home while their kids are doing online schooling,” he said. “If I can lessen that for an hour so that they can sit and eat a meal together without the stress of having to prepare it, it’s very emotionally rewarding for me.”
The Irvine resident is among 48 active Lasagna Love volunteers in Orange County, said Brooke Hill, a local leader for the organization. Overall, 335 chefs have contributed to the Orange County efforts since the group’s inception, she said.
The organization expects to celebrate its 1,500th delivery in Orange County this month, Hill said, noting that at least one chef has personally delivered more than 100 lasagnas.
Lasagna Love began when San Diego mom Rhiannon Menn and her daughter started making and delivering meals to neighboring families experiencing job losses and other difficulties during the pandemic.
Their efforts caught on, and Lasagna Love was soon born with the mission of feeding families, spreading kindness and strengthening communities. Through its work, the group aims to address food insecurity and bring love and kindness to others in times of stress and uncertainty.
Although the pandemic has largely subsided, families are still reaching out to the group for help.
Participants can request a lasagna – for themselves or others – through the Lasagna Love website. From there, they’re matched with a volunteer who will bake a free lasagna for them according to their dietary needs, and will drive it to them for a face-to-face or contactless delivery.
On average, Lasagna Love volunteers deliver 3,500 lasagnas each week to families in Australia, Canada and the United States.
In Orange County, an average of 10 to 20 chefs bake lasagnas each week, fulfilling one to four requests at a time, said Hill.
Volunteers serve the entire county, but most requests for service come from people in north county cities like Anaheim, Orange, Buena Park and Fullerton, said Hill.
“We’re proud to serve every city within Orange County,” she said. “This ensures that no one in our county is left without the warmth and comfort of a homemade lasagna when they need it most.”
Debbie Cetin is another Orange County-based volunteer who enjoys making pasta for others.
Related links
Middle class, hungry in south OC? LaVal Brewer offers two words: dignity, respect
Local nonprofits keep Orange County kids fed during summer months
Dinner tables are diverse, so should be their meals, OC food pantries try to emphasize
Many OC families reaching ‘food cliff’ as pandemic assistance with buying food ends
MLK Day honored in OC by people helping people
The Laguna Niguel resident has been involved with Lasagna Love since 2021, after seeing a mention of the group on social media.
Since then, she’s delivered 30 free lasagnas to area families, from those struggling financially, to those experiencing homelessness, to a cancer patient who was so happy to have a home-cooked meal to feed her children that she burst into tears, Cetin said.
Cetin said she feels “privileged” to be able to serve others through the organization.
“In any one of these situations, it could be us,” she said. “Life can turn in an instant and you don’t know what tomorrow brings. So if I can help somebody, I see no reason why I shouldn’t.”
Cetin cooks for about four families a month – mostly in the Anaheim area – and continues to volunteer because she knows, she said, how much it means to the recipients.
“It’s noodles, it’s sauce, it’s cheese to me, but for somebody else it can mean so much more,” she said.
DiPlacito also says that his experience with Lasagna Love has been so rewarding, that he has no plans to stop volunteering anytime soon.
Although the retired UC Irvine employee has lived in Orange County since 1980, he says he’s learned so much more about the community by delivering free lasagnas to residents.
Meeting recipients of various backgrounds – from grandparents in a gated community in Irvine who’d recently undergone surgery, to a multi-generational family in Santa Ana that texted him “God bless you” after the delivery – has taught him, he said, that you don’t truly know what a person’s needs are by looking at them on the surface.
“You just never know what’s going on in people’s lives,” he said.
DiPlacito said he’s grateful for the chance to help others through Lasagna Love, and hopes that recipients will choose to pay it forward, to spark a chain of love and care in the community.
“I’ll keep making lasagna for as long as I can find pasta,” he said.
To volunteer with Lasagna Love or to request a meal, visit: lasagnalove.org.
Related Articles
Dave Kiff selected to oversee Laguna Beach City Hall
CSUF’s campus garden enters a new season of understanding
Students build foundation for construction industry futures
Renaming affirms significance of CSUF’s LGBTQ Resource Center
Permanent director named for OC Animal Care
