COLUMBUS, Ohio — A two-year Beekeeping School for Military Veterans is being offered locally by the Central Ohio Beekeepers Charitable Foundation and the Franklin County Office of Ohio State University Extension. This program will train veterans how to raise and keep bees and will provide successful participants with bees, a beehive, and other beekeeping equipment free of charge.
Participants will receive classroom training in March and April of this year, and hands-on training and mentoring by experienced beekeepers during summer of 2023 and 2024. Participants will also receive a free two-year membership in the Central Ohio Beekeepers Association.
“Much like gardening, beekeeping can be an activity which can help people to relax and reduce stress, and this can be particularly helpful to individuals experiencing post traumatic stress,” says Claudia Khourey-Bowers, Secretary of Central Ohio Beekeepers Foundation and the primary organizer of the program.
The program is limited to 20 Central Ohio military veterans and the deadline to apply for the program is Feb. 14, 2023. For more information and a program application visit www.hb4l.org/veterans-bee-school-info-1 or contact Mike Hogan, OSU Extension Educator at 614-292-7670.
— Franklin County Office of Ohio State University Extension