KOL Testimonials

I am pleased that LifeTown has created a new program called Kitchen of Life to help build resilience and strengthen students' Interpersonal skills. I have visited LifeTown and have seen first-hand the valuable impact of the program. With the new Kitchen of Life program, students will expand their knowledge by not only creating meals and learning about health and nutrition, but by learning about decision-making, independence, and empathy. This hands-on, interactive experience will spark both traditional learning  and critical soft skills. These skills will help students live up to their God-given potential and truly succeed throughout their lives.

Lifetown has created a new, useful, and long lasting skill building program to help foster confidence and resiliency. The Kitchen of Life has an opportunity to save lives by providing an innovative way to support individual development and offer a safe space with no stigma, which ultimately saves lives.

I am impressed with the goals of the program, which is designed to help youth in Columbus City Schools deal with challenges through prevention.    Your plan to use collaborative culinary experiences to build  resilience in dealing with the adversities of life is innovative and will capture student interest. While  I realize the program is not therapeutic nor clinical in nature, we believe teaching teenagers  social emotional skills while giving them new experiences through the joy of food will provide a meaningful deterrent to suicide. Students will build emotional literacy and a toolbox of skills from their time spent in the Kitchen of Life through questions and reflections about how to deal with failure by coming together as a group and a community, and by learning to feel interdependence, independence, and empathy.

The mission of the Kitchen of Life is to provide experiences embedded with the foundations for resilience and positive youth development through collaborative culinary experiences in a commercial kitchen fostering belonging, generosity, independence and mastery.

Food is an international language that teaches our children that every culture has their unique flavor. Food is a perfect medium for our kids to learn health and nutrition, while implanting resiliency skills and social emotional literacy. I don't
know of any abilities more desperately needed for our kids to master.

This is one of the most hands-on prevention programs I have ever seen. Kitchen of Life is a critical tool for giving students of all abilities and all cultures the resistance and resiliency skills needed to live healthy and meaningful lives.

In my life I'm passionate about creating quality food experiences and investing in the future of our children. Kitchen of Life contains these two cherished ingredients.