Sioux Honey and Food City Partner for Record Honey Donation

Associated Press

13-03-2025

Children's charities in Virginia & Tennessee receive gift - and sweet lesson, too
Johnson City, Tennessee--(Newsfile Corp. - March 12, 2025) - The Sioux Honey Association Co-op is pleased to announce its participation at the Coalition For Kids after-school program alongside a group of about 50 children during in an interactive lesson on honey and honeybee pollination on Wednesday.
The event at the Johnson City nonprofit was part of a broader effort to make a record donation of honey by the Sioux Honey Association Co-op, a beekeeper-owned group of 175+ beekeepers, that was joined by regional grocer Food City to donate 2½ tons of SUE BEE® clover honey to three child-focused organizations: Coalition For Kids; Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley in Knoxville; and Mountain Mission School in Grundy, Va.
The honey will be used as part of meals and snacks for after-school programs, organizers said. The donation of 540 cases (with 6,480 bottles of honey) was divided evenly among the three nonprofits.
'It's a ton of honey - actually about two-and-a-half tons,' said Kevin Hueser, President & CEO of the Sioux Honey Co-op. 'But it will go fast; it should certainly be gone before the three-year expiration date for honey passes.'
On Wednesday, children at Coalition For Kids learned about worker bees, drone bees and queen bees, as well as how honeybees help pollinate everyday foods, such as almonds, melons and avocados.
To demonstrate the pollination process, children played 'honeybees,' with yellow cotton balls while other students portrayed 'flowers' by holding cups filled with different-colored glitter. The children learned how honeybees carry pollen from flower to flower, and how cross-pollination happens as pollens mix.
'It was a fun exercise for our after-school kids,' said Randy Hensley, Executive Director at Coalition For Kids. 'And the honey donation will help with snacks for the kids in our after-school programs.'
Said Chris Mitchell, President at Mountain Mission School: 'As a beekeeper myself, I understand the importance of this process of nature; honeybee pollination is an essential part of the food production process.'
Wednesday's donations to the three child-focused organizations are just one of several donation efforts planned by the Sioux Honey Co-op in 2025. More donations will be coming later this summer following the honey harvest season.
'As beekeepers, we are passionate not only about our honey, but also about giving back to the communities we serve,' said David Coy, a third-generation Sioux Honey Co-op beekeeper whose family tends to beehives in Perkinston, Miss., and Hebron, N.D.
More than 50 students who take part in the Coalition For Kids after-school program in Johnson City, participated Wednesday in an interactive and hands-on lesson about honeybees and how honeybee pollination works. The event was part of a large honey donation made by the Sioux Honey Association Co-op and Food City.
A donation of 2,160 bottles of SUE BEE® honey was made to Coalition For Kids in Johnson City on Wednesday by the Sioux Honey Association Co-op and Food City.
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ABOUT SIOUX HONEY: In 1921, the Sioux Honey Co-op began as a small group of just five beekeepers. Located near Sioux City, Iowa, they shared equipment, marketing and processing facilities - all to help support one another. Today, Sioux Honey is still a co-op, but it has grown into 175+ beekeepers nationwide. Some have been members for decades - part of families who have passed down the trade for generations - and some have pioneered and started their own bee farms. But all of the members have a passion for producing a pure, quality product that customers can trust. And we're proud to say we know each of our beekeepers by name, because we've learned that's how you produce the best honey for more than a century.
ABOUT FOOD CITY: Headquartered in Abingdon, Virginia, K-VA-T Food Stores (Food City's parent company) operates 158 retail outlets throughout southeast Kentucky, southwest Virginia, east Tennessee, north Georgia, and Alabama.
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