Good News Thursday: Lasagnas feed 100k families, library book returns after 50 years

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Nonprofit feeds 100,000 families with lasagna

Shari DiBrito, the New Jersey regional director for the nonprofit Lasagna Love, holds a lasagna. The grassroots nonprofit organization offering Americans free lasagnas recently surpassed its 100,000 lasagna delivery mark. (Jason Adam Photography via AP)

The nonprofit Lasagna Love is feeding American families one lasagna at a time. The idea stemmed from business owner and mother of three, Rhiannon Menn who wanted to help her community during the pandemic. She decided to make several trays of lasagna and asked moms on Facebook if anyone needed them. From when the initiative began in April 2020 to October of 2020, 500 volunteers in several states had joined the Facebook group; Menn told the Associated Press it went viral “completely by accident.” Now the nonprofit not only includes helpful moms and dads, but even includes chefs and staff. Lasagna Love has received $2 million in in-kind contributions from companies like Pastene and Rao’s Homemade that provide products. The nonprofit has also received $200,000 in direct donations. This year they hit their 100,000 lasagna mark.

“It just goes to show there were so many people in the beginning who really, really wanted to help their neighbors, and didn’t know how to do it, and didn’t know how to do it safely,” Menn told the Associated Press. “And they saw this, and latched on to Lasagna Love as an opportunity to really impact their communities in a meaningful way.”

14-year-old becomes youngest to swim across Lake Tahoe


James Savage, 14, swims the entire 21.3-mile length of Lake Tahoe from South Lake Tahoe, California to Incline Village, Nevada. He became the youngest person ever to make the swim and complete the coveted Tahoe Triple Crown. He completed the two other legs of the triple crown earlier, each 10 miles are longer. (AP Photo/By Jillian Savage)

14-year-old James Savage is now the youngest person to swim the length of Lake Tahoe. The 21.3-mile swim took him 12 hours and stretches across state lines from California to Nevada. This isn’t the first time Savage has swam great lengths in the vast lake; he also swam two other legs of the lake which are 10 and 12 miles long. Now with the longest length under his pocket, he completed the impressive Tahoe Triple Crown. The hardest part wasn’t the physical training, as Savage has been swimming almost every day since he was eight, but rather the mental training. Not many 14-year-old boys can go 12 hours alone with just their thoughts to entertain them.

“It’s not like he can sit and talk to us when he gets bored. His face is in the water and so really, he’s by himself,” Jillian Savage, his mom, told the Associated Press. “But this time, he kept telling me, ‘Mom, I feel so much better mentally prepared this time.’ And he went out, and he just did such a great job.”

Library book is returned after 50 years

The book “Coins You Can Collect” and a letter are displayed at the Plymouth, Pa., Public Library, after it was returned 50-years overdue. Included with the book was a letter and $20 donation. (Dave Scherbenco/The Citizens’ Voice via AP)

A book was returned to the Plymouth, Pennsylvania Public Library 50 years after it was checked out in 1971. The book “Coins You Can Collect” arrived at the library along with a letter and a $20 bill. In the unsigned letter, the anonymous keeper of the book detailed how as a kid she checked out the book and then moved away from the state, not realizing she brought the library book with her. The book then became a joke within her family, as the library book traveled with them as they moved from place to place.

The author of the letter knew the $20 wouldn’t surmount to the hefty late fee she racked up over the years, but instead asked the library staff to use it to pay off fines for other library goers. The money will go towards just that, and the book and its letter will be put on display in the library.

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