HELPING FAMILIES PROTECT A LIFETIME OF WORK

At the time of this writing, there are approximately 70 families awaiting a lasagna delivery 60 of those are in the Omaha area. The further out of the metro requests are, the longer the wait time can be since the bulk of the state’s volunteers live within the city limits.

“I have volunteers in West Omaha and Elkhorn that don’t want to drive more than five miles,” Kirs chner said.

Recently, a group of Lasagna Love volunteers gathered and made 20 lasagnas to help reduce the number of requestors in queue. Volunteers are always needed (and appreciated) at Lasagna Love. It’s an easy and accommodating group to join a quick sign-up online is all it takes to get involved. Volunteers are then matched with requestors who live within the volunteer’s stated location of service.

When asked if they receive a lot of gratitude for their efforts, Kirschner and Miller both asserted that they’re not involved in the organization to seek gratitude.

“The ‘thank yous’ aren’t why we do it,” Kirschner answered. “If they’re brave enough to say they need help, I’m going deliver and they don’t have to thank me that’s not why I signed up.”

People who are intrigued by the mission of Lasagna Love, but who aren’t comfortable with cooking for others, can instead sign the “Kindness Pledge” online that allows people to serve their communities in whatever ways best suit their talents and time. This allows the organization’s mission to extend beyond the confines of a lasagna pan.

Those who sign the Kindness Pledge are asked to share it with others, helping spread the movement organically. Beyond signing the pledge or cooking lasagna, the organization also accepts monetary donations via their website.

When asked what the organization needs most, Kirschner responded, “I would say volunteers. Donations are fine, too. If someone wants to contribute but doesn’t have the time or skill, they can make a donation or there’s an option to sponsor a volunteer. They can basically sponsor the ingredients for a volunteer. Volunteers are great. It’s such a flexible opportunity, so whether you want to make one and be done or if you want make one a month or four a week, we’re happy for any cont ribution.”

Visit lasagnalove.org for more information.

Since the times of ancient Greece, when reality was saturated with myth and gods mingled with mortals, a cultural phenomenon called ‘xenia’ has remained in the hearts of the Greek people. While the term is derived from ‘Zeus Xenios,’ one of the thunder god’s many epithets in this case, the protector of travelers the concept itself is simple: generosity toward strangers. Though remote in time, distance, and belief from Mt. Olympus and its pantheon, xenia is not only alive at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Midtown Omaha, it’s palpable. And with ‘the Helens’ overseeing the parish kitchen, it’s even edible and served fresh with a dollop of tzatziki.

“You have to feed them...feed the strangers,” exclaimed Helen Nick, 90, on the importance of hospitality in her nat ive Greece.

“They bring a whole bunch of sweets on the table, and say ‘eat, eat, eat,” added Helen Amlin, 81.

“Exactly! My girls, when they’d be home from college, I’d say ‘eat, eat, eat’ and they’d call me ‘eat, eat, eat’ every time it was my name,” Nick laughed.

Both first-generation immigrants, Amlin was born on the island of Crete 100 miles south of mainland Greece, while Nick was born in Athens but grew up in the village of Kopanaki, nestled between the Tetrazio and Kyparissa mountains in northwest Messenia. Nick learned the culinary staples of her homeland tending the village garden and helping her mother in the kitchen.

“Original from home we never learned anything from here (the United States), everything we cook is from home (Greece),” Nick said. “My mom was the head of the family and all of us by her side, she showed how to start and finish anything we needed done [for meals], and we grew our little garden. Every family back home, in small towns, they have their own gardens and grow the salads.”

“The lamb and the potatoes and the chicken, they’re prepared in a little different way [in Crete], a little bit different seasonings and stuff,” Amlin noted of regional styles. “I learned mostly in church the way they do it here.”

The memories are bittersweet, the idylls of family life framed by a country embroiled in foreign conflict, economic stagnation, and a military coup in 1967 that saw Grecian civil liberties deteriorate under the dictatorial ‘Regime of the Generals.’

“Yes, life was tough in Greece in those days,” noted Mary Strom, church secretary. “My mom said I’ll never forget her saying this she said that she will ‘kiss the ground’ here in America for everything it has helped with.”