TOLEDO, Ohio — The Imagination Station held a drive-thru food hand-off with a twist - they also gave away science kits for kids!
The local science museum partnered with COSI Columbus and the Toledo Northwestern Ohio Food Bank, giving kids a new way to be excited about science while providing for the community.
The event happened at the Toledo Farmer’s Market, where cars pulled up to pick up two care packages. One box was full of food, the other contained a Learning Lunchbox Science kit; a NASA-designed box containing educational tools for kids.
Amy Mohr, Imagination Station’s Senior Information Officer, said, “[The Imagination Station is] happy to be a part of this. It falls right in line with our mission, our goals. We just want to make science education - fun science education - and make it accessible to everyone.”
While the items in these kits are designed to be fun, they’re really an opportunity for kids to develop a familiarity with STEM-related ideas and help bridge the learning gap caused by the pandemic.
Regarding pandemic-related educational struggles, Mohr said, “We know that the summer slide is real for students, pandemic aside. But when you add that into the mix, it just heightens it that much more. So anything we can do to help kids continue to learn, continue to be curious and be excited about things like this- we’re gonna jump and do it.”
The Learning Lunchboxes program also serves a dual purpose; they’re designed to be distributed with a meal kit containing a week’s worth of food, courtesy of the Toledo Northwestern Ohio Food Bank.
Barbara Hofstetter, the food bank’s director of operations, says even though the worst of the pandemic is behind us, food assistance is needed as people are still recovering.
“Food is always going to be our main focus because that’s one thing we can not live without. And if we’re able to add on top of that, it’s just better for our community. It’s always great to find those partnerships that not only provide fuel for the body but fuel for the mind,” Hofstetter explained.
While there were 1,000 boxes available for distribution at the event, not all of them were given away at the time.
The remaining boxes will be given to organizations that work with the Imagination Station, who will use them to continue helping young Toledoans engage with STEM-related concepts for years to come.