Partnership & Grantee Highlights
Valor Honey
Saving Lives, Saving Bees, Saving an Industry
04.06.2026
Unit First Sergeant now an apprentice beekeeper.
Valor Honey is a non-profit organization that uses beekeeping coupled with counseling as a therapeutic tool to help veterans and active-duty service members heal from their invisible wounds of war. Their work results in two key outcomes:
- Recovery: Beekeeping serves as a tool to help individuals recover from disorders such as PTSD, brain injuries, and suicidality, resulting from their military service.
- Career transition: They provide beekeeping training, opening up a new career path for service members transitioning out of the military.
In April 2025, Valor Honey started a one-of-a-kind education program for active-duty members at Fort Riley (Kansas), offering beekeeping training to transitioning service members who want to learn about it as a potential vocation. The program was such a success – graduating 25 apprentice and 6 journeyman beekeepers – that they now plan to build out the scale of the program to be replicated on other Army posts beyond Fort Riley.
Valor soldier with honey.
Valor soldier with honey.
In April 2025, Valor Honey started a one-of-a-kind education program for active-duty members at Fort Riley (Kansas), offering beekeeping training to transitioning service members who want to learn about it as a potential vocation. The program was such a success – graduating 25 apprentice and 6 journeyman beekeepers – that they now plan to build out the scale of the program to be replicated on other Army posts beyond Fort Riley.
Active duty unit from Fort Riley spending the day with bees.
In 14 years, Valor Honey has trained 3000 students in beekeeping, including 300 formerly on suicide watch, all of whom have since recovered and successfully reintegrated into their families and communities. In addition to expanding this program to more veterans and active-duty service members, Valor Honey plans to expand this program to farmers and first responders who face similar challenges.
Valor Honey has a significant and lasting impact: more than half of the students who complete their training programs continue beekeeping, with some even developing large-scale commercial operations. In an effort to cultivate the next generation of beekeepers and support the domestic supply of honey, Valor Honey also collaborates with the American Honey Producers Association.
All photos are courtesy of Valor Honey.
Active-duty soldiers and veterans at the American Honey Producers Association annual meeting in 2025.
Active-duty soldiers and veterans at the American Honey Producers Association annual meeting in 2025.
Valor Honey has a significant and lasting impact: more than half of the students who complete their training programs continue beekeeping, with some even developing large-scale commercial operations. In an effort to cultivate the next generation of beekeepers and support the domestic supply of honey, Valor Honey also collaborates with the American Honey Producers Association.
All photos are courtesy of Valor Honey.
04.22.2025
10.11.2024
10.10.2024