Roughly 20 friends crowded the kitchen at Lori McDougal’s house in Sandy on Thursday afternoon. They spooned ricotta cheese onto oven-ready noodles, poured family-sized jars of pasta sauce on top, and smothered their creations with mozzarella.
Their goal was to make 30 lasagnas for the nonprofit Lasagna Love. Volunteers with the organization make and deliver free lasagnas for anyone who asks.
It was also McDougal’s 63rd birthday party.
“I just feel like I've received gifts all these years, and I just, the last few years have just kind of looked for a way to serve and to give back.”
Her timing was perfect, because demand shot up during the government shutdown.
The international organization usually receives about 2,500 requests per week, said Deea Hobbs, the regional coordinator for Utah and surrounding states. But in late October, as it became clear that SNAP benefits would be interrupted, that surged to around 10,000, she said.
“We've never seen this level of requests,” said Hobbs, who’s volunteered for nearly five years.
The lasagna request form also includes space for comments. Some Utahns wrote that their families were struggling financially. Others referenced the government shutdown specifically.
“‘We were cut on food stamps, and we are really struggling,’” Hobbs read from one requester’s note. “Another one, ‘Furloughed employee, need help with food, having financial troubles.’”
In Utah, the waitlist is about 350 lasagnas long. How soon someone might get a delivery depends on the number of volunteers nearby.
“For example, in Ogden, the need is great, and we do not have enough volunteers in Ogden. So those families are having to wait a little bit longer until we can get them matched,” Hobbs said.
Lasagna Love isn’t about solving world hunger. Hobbs knows a homemade lasagna won’t fix everything, but one meal at a time, it spreads kindness.
“The world is hard and can be tough, but we're all in it together, and that's a message that we all need,” she said.
McDougal found out about Lasagna Love through her church and decided to go big for her first time volunteering. She stocked up on tin baking trays, printed instructions from Lasagna Love and bought the ingredients.
“I cooked down 40 pounds of meat and started gathering ricotta cheese and noodles,” she said, smiling during the party. “I think I bought out my local Walmart, you know, a time or two.”
After a couple hours of prep, four lasagnas bubbled in the oven. The rest sat on hallway floors, ready to be picked up by other volunteers and delivered with heating instructions.
McDougal called her friends into the dining room.
Charcuterie and dessert covered the table. McDougal’s daughters-in-law had baked sourdough bread and a birthday cake. Her grandchildren scurried around with their child-sized slices. Guests cut into the two lasagnas McDougal made the day before.
“Thank you guys so much for helping with my crazy ideas,” McDougal said after the crowd sang “Happy Birthday.”
Soon, the timer for the lasagnas went off, and McDougal bounced back to the oven.
The whole kitchen smelled like a pizza shop. Each hot tray of lasagna went into a paper bag with garlic bread, salad and homemade cookies. Party goers divvied up the deliveries.
McDougal and a friend drove about 15 minutes to make their drop-off.
She might get in the habit of making lasagnas for others more often, she said, but just a few at a time. She hopes some of her friends will start contributing, too.
At the requester’s house, McDougal walked up the steps and knocked. After a minute, a teenage boy opened the door.
Thrilled, McDougal handed him the bag.
“We're so happy that you get to have some warmth tonight,” she said. “Hold the bottom of this because it's nice and heavy, ready for you to eat.”
The boy thanked her, and McDougal got back in the car, satisfied. She was home in time for her own lasagna dinner.
Macy Lipkin is a Report for America corps member who reports for KUER in northern Utah.
