Mangia! Gig Harbor’s ‘lasagna lady’ fights pandemic one pan at a time

If the coronavirus pandemic can be beaten by pasta and marinara sauce, Michelle Brenner has it licked.

Since she was furloughed from her job a month ago, Brenner, who calls herself a “die-hard Italian,” has been making lasagna for anyone struggling to put food on the table during the lockdown.

Pans and pans of lasagna. Lasanga for the masses.

“The smiles I see on people’s faces, the relief I see when people pick these up, I can’t explain it,” Brenner said. “There’s need and there’s want for food, but I can see the relief and hope. Something I create in my kitchen gives people hope.”

Brenner began by making lasagna for friends and neighbors, then health-care workers and first-responders with no time to cook. Word got around.

Now she makes anywhere from 30 to 50 pans of lasagna each day, working from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. She makes daily trips to the store to buy ingredients, delivers lasagna to those who cannot travel, and puts out fresh pans of lasagna under a canvas pavilion in front of her home.

“I just love to cook,” Brenner said. “If it would make someone’s day to make a lasagna, I would be honored to do so.”

The lasagna crusade has made Brenner something of a celebrity. A fan made her a shirt that says, “Lasagna Lady.” As she spoke on the phone to The Gateway, two television stations were filming in her kitchen.

“Sometime when I go into a store people clap or thank me,” she said. “I see all kinds of emotions and it validates what it means to me. It’s not about the recognition, it’s about the community and the volumes it speaks for what we are doing for each other.”

Brenner said she has created and distributed well over 450 pans of lasagna in the last three weeks. Her lasagna is made with beef, cheeses, and thick marinara sauce. The recipes comes from her Sicilian grandmother, Maimi Russotti, and is more than 80 years old.

“I used to cook with my grandmother when I was younger,” Brenner said. “Everything she made was either from her garden or from the Italian deli; she refused to eat other than Italian food! My grandmother spoke very little English but I always understood her love of cooking.”

Those who order a lasagna through her Facebook page simply show up to her home, pick up their lasagna, drive home and pop it in their oven.

“I can do vegetarian and gluten free,” Brenner added.

Brenner, who works as the manager of Jos A. Bank clothing store in Uptown, is currently furloughed due to COVID-19.

Brenner created a Facebook fundraiser for those who want to contribute toward the ingredients, which are purchased fresh each day. This page has raised $6,800, with all money raised going straight toward lasagna. Those who pick up the dinner also have the opportunity to donate money in a jar outside of Brenner’s home.

Cindi Collamore, the health tech at Purdy Elementary, is one of many customers.

“It’s absolutely delicious,” Collamore said. “That lady can cook.”

Collamore said she’s donated to keep the lasagna coming. Collamore has gotten to know Brenner through Facebook, and said that Brenner has a great sense of humor, is a lover of animals and has a kind heart.

“I told [Brenner] that when she hits her target I am taking her out for wine,” Collamore said. “I can hardly wait until this COVID is more relaxed so I can sit down and talk with her.”

Collamore said the lasagna was so tasty, in fact, that she told her sister-in-law in Wenatchee about them, and her sister-in-law ordered two pans of lasagna — and donated $100.

Brenner said that she wishes she could sit down and chat with all of those who swing by her house.

“I am very Italian, and in my house we did big Sunday dinners with all the families,” Brenner said. “If I had it my way, I’d have everybody over for dinner, but I love the fact that every day I do something I love, and something I know will make other people smile.”

To donate toward Brenner’s lasagna project, visit https://www.facebook.com/donate/160584585394868/.