On Wednesday, Oct. 21, Cedar Crest College students and staff spread a little love and kindness throughout the Allentown community— one lasagna at a time! The Student Dietetic Association (SDA), with support from the Lutz Center for Community Service, partnered with global nonprofit Lasagna Love to deliver 20 homemade lasagnas to local families in need.
Lasagna Love connects neighbors with neighbors through homemade meal delivery, seeking to eliminate stigmas associated with asking for help when it is needed most. Through their neighbor-to-neighbor grassroots movement, they connect with volunteer lasagna chefs who want to help individuals and families in need, providing home-cooked lasagnas made with love. Cedar Crest nutrition student and SDA President Danielle Dengler, a volunteer chef with the nonprofit, organized the outreach and coordinated deliveries with all 20 recipient families.
“Food has a unique way of bringing people together, and my experience with Lasagna Love reminded me that even the simplest meal can have a meaningful impact,” said Danielle. “Being able to use my passion for nutrition to give back to my community and spread kindness through food reinforced my love for the field and reminded me why I chose to study nutrition in the first place.”
Joining Danielle were fellow students Hannah Halm, Za-Asia Muhammad, Gwenivere Fossa, and Angelina Mejia, along with SDA advisor and Associate Professor of Nutrition Dr. Nyree Dardarian. Together, the volunteers prepared 10 lasagnas in the morning and 10 in the afternoon, reinforcing food safety practices while cooking and learning simple ways to incorporate more vegetables into a classic lasagna recipe.
With transportation provided by Takyra Batz, assistant director for community engagement and leadership development, and support from the Lutz Center for Community Service, the first 10 lasagnas were delivered midday, with the remaining delivered that evening. Each family also received a flyer listing local food resources to help connect them with additional support beyond a single meal.
The community response was heartfelt, with families reaching out to the SDA afterward to express their gratitude and share how much the kind gesture meant to them. Many had been on the waiting list for months, making the deliveries even more meaningful.
Families facing hardship can request a free, home-cooked meal through Lasagna Love, lasagnalove.org, with no questions asked. Each request is matched with a local volunteer chef who prepares a lasagna tailored to the family’s dietary needs and delivers it to their door. Since its founding in 2020, the organization has provided meals to more than 1.8 million people.