Gold Coaster’s secret recipe for spreading kindness

From her kitchen to strangers’ doorsteps, a local real estate agent is spreading comfort one homemade meal at a time.

Bernadette Cummins, a local ‘lasagne love’ volunteer, with a homemade meal ready for delivery. Picture Glenn Hampson

After a day of property inspections and client calls, Bernadette Cummins pulls into an unfamiliar driveway, carries a foil-covered lasagne to the front door, and sends a simple text: “Your meal has been delivered.”

Ms Cummins is part of the pandemic-born initiative ‘Lasagne Love,’ which sees volunteers cook lasagnes from their own ingredients and deliver them contact-free to people in need.

The Mermaid Waters resident said she was thrilled when she first discovered the community group on Facebook a couple months ago.

“It really appealed to me because I love to cook and bake and I could sign up as much as I wanted,” Ms Cummins said.

“Life is tough out there right now so I thought I could do something good.”

Bernadette Cummins, a local ‘lasagne love’ volunteer, with a homemade meal ready for delivery. Picture Glenn Hampson

Whether it’s a family struggling financially, a single parent juggling work and kids, a student living far from home, or someone recovering from illness – there’s no questions asked or judgement passed on a requester.

But Ms Cummins said she doesn’t know recipients’ circumstances unless they choose to share.

“The last one I did, they had a really bad illness. She had surgery for it and was basically on the couch for six months,” she said.

“Everyone has their story but I felt it was time for me to be on the other foot,” Ms Cummins said.

The 45-year-old is part of a global volunteer movement that has recently reached a major milestone – 1500 home-cooked lasagnes shared nationwide.

Originally founded in the United States during Covid lockdowns in 2020, the initiative has since fed more than two million people globally.

Originally published as Gold Coaster’s secret recipe for spreading kindness