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Food for Thought: COSI Donates ‘Learning Lunchboxes’ Around Wheeling

By DEREK REDD 2 min read
Photo by Derek Redd Shilling Rodocker, 4, and Wheeling Councilwoman Rosemary Ketchum help stack “learning lunchbox” kits that COSI has donated to the Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling and other entities around the city Thursday at the soup kitchen.

COSI is stretching beyond its Ohio headquarters to help students in West Virginia satisfy their appetites for STEAM learning.

The Columbus, Ohio, science museum spent Thursday traveling around the Mountain State, delivering "learning lunchbox" kits to enhance children's understanding of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) subjects. A couple of those stops were in Wheeling, at the Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling on Eoff Street and Ritchie Elementary School.

The boxes include five hands-on STEAM projects and 10 hours' worth of content in various subjects. The boxes delivered to the Wheeling sites had an energy theme. In those boxes, students had materials to build solar ovens and lava lamps, among other things.

"We know the learning gap is not limited to Ohio," COSI Chief Strategy Officer Stephen White said. "And COSI already serves a lot of schools in West Virginia. We know we had to change our model as a result of the (COVID-19) pandemic and adapt to the environment. What we heard from families and teachers and youth in West Virginia was that they wanted some additional support. And that's how these kits were born."

The boxes delivered to Ritchie Elementary will be distributed to students today. The boxes delivered to the soup kitchen will be passed out next Wednesday as part of the organization's "Just For Kids" program.

In that program, children and their families can visit the soup kitchen Wednesdays from 3:30-5:30 p.m. to eat together and socialize with other children and families. The program also provides gifts for back-to-school and Christmas. The boxes will be part of the Christmas gifts the soup kitchen will hand out next week.

"A lot of our children are straight-A students," said Becky Shilling-Rodocker, executive director of the Soup Kitchen of Greater Wheeling. "They're very proud to come in and show their report cards, so these STEAM items will fit right in with the mission of our program, which is to make children excited about school."

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