Brooklyn beekeeping program helps people with disabilities build skills, community and confidence
If you tend to run the other way after hearing a buzz, a unique beekeeping program in Brooklyn might change your mind.
At Services for the UnderServed (S:US), bees are becoming a tool for growth, connection and job training.
How Services for the UnderServed offers help
Opening a beehive can intimidate even the toughest New Yorker. But behind the smoke and the swarms is a lesson in confidence.
"Insects are a thing that make people nervous. But I think once you get a sense of how honeybees interact with the environment, how docile they are ... We've had nothing but support," said Mike Hollis, vice president for community food security at Services for the UnderServed.
Hollis works for S:US' therapeutic horticulture program, which includes urban gardens and a unique beehive operation in Brooklyn. In the backyard of one supportive housing development, program participants tend to gardens filled with fruits and vegetables, and care for thousands of bees.
"These are New Yorkers with intellectual and developmental disabilities, New Yorkers recovering from substance use or domestic violence, New Yorkers that have behavioral health diagnoses," Hollis said.
Program offers a sense of purpose
Among the participants is Christina Buie, a beekeeper-in-training and urban farmer. She said her path to the program followed a series of difficult experiences, including an elevator accident that led to a coma and a mental health breakdown.
"Back and forth to the hospital, and I just couldn't hold my job," Buie said.
Now, Buie is employed to care for the garden, where she helps grow about 500 pounds of eggplants, tomatoes and corn each season. The produce is distributed for free to residents upstairs.
"I love planting. I love to eat what I grow, I know what I'm eating," Buie said.
"It's a vocational opportunity to build skills"
Stephen McKenzie, another urban farmer and resident at the development, said the garden has also provided him with a sense of peace after a difficult period in his life.
"I was, you know, homeless at one time ... I like coming out here for peace and quiet," McKenzie said.
The honey harvest runs every two weeks through September. Some of the honey is sold at farmers' markets, but most of it goes directly to residents and program participants. Proceeds from the sales get used to expand programming for future years.
"It's both an income, and it's a vocational opportunity to build skills, to build job experience," Hollis said.
For the people behind the hives, honey is only one of the sweet things coming. The other is a sense of purpose.
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