Shop owner spreads the love with lasagne

With Valentine's Day around the corner, a shop owner from Coventry is choosing to spread the love in a different way: with lasagne.

Rebecca Harrington, who runs Purdy's pet shop, recently cooked for a family as part of Lasagna Love, a global non-profit movement that connects volunteers with people in need of a home-cooked meal.

After seeing a Facebook advert, signing up online and watching training videos, she was matched with a single parent with six children.

Ms Harrington said it was a "lovely" feeling when she dropped her homemade lasagne and garlic bread off on the family's doorstep.

"I got a really, really lovely reply off the family thanking me and just saying it really made their Saturday evening and they all really enjoyed it," she said.

"Sometimes when you give to charity you can't actually see the end result, but to actually get the end result and that text - knowing that every penny I spent on the ingredients and obviously the time that I took to cook, it meant that much to the family - that was really good."

Harrington plans to cook lasagne twice a month and has her next delivery scheduled for Monday.

"I love cooking, absolutely love cooking. I've got ADHD and it relaxes me. I thought I could actually help somebody out," she said.

"I've had a lot of people who've done a lot of things for me, especially family, friends, so if I'm in a position to be able to give back I do like to try."

She added: "I lost my father last year unfortunately, and I was caring for my mum as well, who's got dementia, but I'm fortunate that I've managed to get a live-in carer to help so it's given me a bit more time and sometimes I even cook the lasagne at my mum's. I cooked that last lasagne at my mum's house and the carers even got involved and helped."

Lasagna Love was founded at the start of the pandemic by Rhiannon Menn, a mother in San Diego, who began cooking meals for her neighbours. What started as a small act of kindness grew into a global movement, operating in the US, Canada, UK and Australia.

It has more than 80,000 volunteers and delivers an average of 3,500 lasagnes each week, with more than 530,000 meals sent to date.

Families can sign up to receive a lasagne without answering questions and volunteers coordinate contactless deliveries to meet dietary needs.

"It's all about non-judgement," said Harrington.

"You might be feeling low in your mental health, struggling after surgery - anything. You just go online, request a lasagne and you'll get matched within a week or so."

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