Heroes to Hives Helps Veterans Transition to Civilian Life Through Beekeeping
In partnership with: Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development
Dave Rife was checking on his honeybees when he realized something was wrong: A gang of yellow jackets had infiltrated the hives, making hundreds of bees very angry.
“Even with them buzzing around my head and bouncing around my veil, I was able to wait and sit it out,” he remembers.
A few years ago, the Air Force veteran would have had no idea how to handle the situation, but thanks to the Heroes to Hives program, he was introduced to beekeeping while using his military discipline to stay calm and focused.
Beekeeping & Beyond
This is something Dr. Adam Ingrao can understand – it’s precisely why he founded Heroes to Hives with his wife, Lacey Ann, in 2016. This free nine-month program allows veterans and spouses to learn about beekeeping while meeting people who understand what they are going through.
After partnering with Michigan State University Extension and a $15,000 donation from AT&T, Heroes to Hives exploded from 15 students to more than 4,500 around the world.
Students participate in online classes, then attend in-person training sessions, which have expanded to the University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Missouri. They can then transfer to UNL’s Great Plains Master Beekeeping program.
“Sometimes people need to be outdoors,” Ingrao explains. “That’s where they get the hands-on experience, but that’s where that healing actually happens.”
Ingrao enlisted in the Army in 2003, but during a training accident in 2004, he ruptured all the lateral ligaments in his right ankle and knee and injured his back, injuries he still deals with today, as well as survivor’s guilt. When he moved to Michigan in 2013 for a Ph.D. at Michigan State University, he was first introduced to beekeeping.
“I can point to that moment in time as the moment that everything changed in my life,” Ingrao says.
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Hive Minds
For soldiers and veterans looking for a way to calm their thoughts, beekeeping has been an activity that checks all the boxes, according to program alumnus David Storm.
“I’ve become good friends with some of the people from the Heroes to Hives program who have allowed me to come into the apiaries and to assist them and reconnect and talk about things that we can’t talk about with most people that just would never understand,” Storm says.
The Navy veteran left the service in 2008 after developing degenerative disc disease and chronic pain. His disability pension wasn’t enough to pay the bills, so he slept in the woods and storage units. He found out about the Heroes to Hives program from his therapist and enrolled in 2019. He now has 12 hives with the goal to expand and graduate from the master beekeeping course.
Through the program, Storm and Rife have become good friends. They help each other out and can talk about what’s bothering them and what they went through.
Rife’s Air Force career ended in 1991 when he was burnt out from constant combat readiness exercises and the fallout from a flying metal plate that split his tibia and fibula. He has two hives with the goal to grow his apiary and one day give back by teaching.
“The queen can’t live without the rest of the hive, and the hive can’t survive without a queen,” Rife says. “Together, they are a super-organism, and I can relate because I’ve lived the military life. I work to be part of the hive, part of the scenery. I can tune out the world, and everything I’m dealing with becomes just me and the bees. It’s cathartic and gives me a place where I feel whole and right.”
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