The COVID-19 outbreak that's closed schools and kept children at home nationwide has brought new business to a Stark County company that's one of the country's biggest providers of homeschooling supplies.
The Rainbow Resource Center, started in 1989 by Bob and Linda Schneider when they were homeschooling their own children, has grown into the third-largest employer in rural Stark County.
"We have 49 full-time employees and 10 to 15 part-time workers. Only a bank and the county school system are larger," said Bob Schneider.
Those employees are working harder these days to fill orders that have come from parents now spending time with children under stay-at-home orders due to the virus.
"We're getting calls from people seeking educational supplies now that children are home but we've really been slammed by orders for things like puzzles and sidewalk chalk," said Schneider, adding that he's put on extra staff to handle the additional orders.
The Rainbow Resource Center, located some 40 miles north of Peoria, stands in stark contrast to the rest of Stark County, which mostly consists of farm country. Rising out of the cornfields is a huge warehouse that holds over 40,000 educational products that Rainbow ships across the country.
Along with the homeschool market, Rainbow is getting more orders these days from charter schools, said Schneider. "Charter schools, particularly in the west, have found us, as well," he said.
The outbreak hasn't had much of an impact on Rainbow's workforce, said Schneider. "We're taking precautions. We had one lady out sick and we had her take some extra time off to make sure everything was okay. Another employee is able to work from home. Of course, it helps that there's only been one (COVID-19) case reported in Stark County so far," he said.
Many of those Rainbow employees work to secure and package the textbooks, workbooks, learning kits, videos and other materials (from preschool to grade 12) that people order.
An integral part of the Rainbow operation is the daily presence of the UPS truck. "We're the biggest shipper in Stark County by far," said Schneider, noting that his company fills over 170,000 orders a year and will send out 150,000 catalogs to 150,000 households this summer.
Schneider is philosophical about meeting expanded demand in the event that school children have to spend extended time at home. "We can only do as much as we're set up to do," he said.
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