Project Concluded on Friday, May 15th
We are so grateful to the many volunteers and the 125 people who donated to make this project possible! In total, we were able to buy and distribute 500 lasagna to our neighbors. We are grateful to everyone who participated in this hopeful project!
We are no longer taking donations…our last lasagna pick up event was held on Friday, May 15th.
We are very grateful to our project partners, Mutual Aid Natick, Gallery 55, Lola’s, and Prince Street Cafe. Please stay tuned…we’re on the lookout for other ways to support our community in these challenging times! To connect with Mutual Aid Natick, please visit their website: https://mutualaidnatick.org/
We’re in a global crisis
We all recognize that we are on the doorstep of an epic global crisis. Most communities understand the increased need to stand up and support each other. Simple basic needs have become, and will increasingly become, a large hardship for many in our community. It’s a natural human response for neighbors to want help their neighbors and it’s what gets us all through tough times.
Taking local action
A group of local businesses and non-profit organizations is forming a project which will provide a large number of ready to bake lasagna for people or families in need of a good meal. Having food is a basic need and this plan will help many, even if just in a small way, put a meal on the table.
Here’s the game plan
Lola’s Italian Groceria in Natick Center and Prince Street Cafe and Bakery of Bedford (owned by Natick resident Dana Gallo Strayton) will produce ready to bake lasagnas at a generously discounted rate, with each lasagna frozen and ready for either delivery to target person/family or curbside pick up.
Common Street Spiritual Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit located in Natick Center, will administer the project by processing donations and lasagna requests and coordinating with a larger network of volunteers to staff lasagna pick-ups and deliveries.
Mutual Aid Natick, a grassroots network of neighbors helping neighbors, will provide volunteers to deliver these meals as well as help staff a weekly curbside pick up service on a day to be determined. Visit mutualaidnatick.org or call 508-656-0120
Gallery 55, a Natick Center art gallery and photography studio, will produce the marketing and media materials to raise and drive donations and requests, and generate media coverage of the project.
The goal in brief
A non-profit effort to make lasagna for those in need, produced locally while supporting local business, organized and administered locally with local volunteerism and marketing via social & traditional media. Organize a simple process to provide food for many.
A note about safety
All volunteers for the project will be trained to handle food items safely, and our systems of distributing food will be designed with a safe protocol for physical/social distancing.
You can join us
Contact Mutual Aid Natick to volunteer for this and related efforts!