Weddingbee Blog

In April, we revealed the first ever Weddingbee Weekend of Action—an opportunity for everyone to participate in community service projects in their hometown and represent Weddingbee. We had many people come forward to organize projects in many different cities in America, covering a wide variety of organizations, and on the weekend of June 23–24, bees around America participated in hands-on community service projects.

Mrs. Penguin rocking her Weddingbee Weekend of Action T-shirt, designed by Mrs. Cupcake

Thank you to everyone who organized and came out for the first Weddingbee Weekend of Action, dedicated to our hive member Penny Laine, whom we lost earlier this year. We hope to continue this tradition around the holidays this winter, and we would love to have even more projects and geographical areas represented all around the world. If you’re interested, please feel free to contact Mrs. Hermit Crab at hermitcrab (at) weddingbee (dot) com for more information.

Here is a recap of the wonderful work that was done in June (in no particular order):

San Francisco, CA

Mrs. Taco, Mrs. Glasses, and Mrs. Penguin spent the morning making meals at Glide SF. GLIDE’s mission is to create a radically inclusive, just, and loving community mobilized to alleviate suffering and break the cycles of poverty and marginalization. The services they provide include licensed childcare and after-school programming, emergency supplices, shelter and meals to the homeless, HIV testing, mental and primary health care, women’s programs, crisis intervention, an after-school program, creative arts and mentoring for youth, literacy classes, computer training, job skills training, drug and alcohol recovery programs, free legal services for the homeless, housing with case management, and much more. We’re excited to tackle our next project—it was a great reason to get together on Sunday morning and catch up! We’re going to volunteer again soon—finding projects in the SF Bay Area is super easy if you sign up via Hands On Bay Area. Email Mrs. Penguin at cathy (at) weddingbee (dot) com if you want to join us on our next volunteering adventure!

Washington, D.C.

Mrs. Cucumber Sandwich and Ms. LadyBear volunteered with the Boys & Girls club of Greater Washington at the Safeway BBQ Battle. The mission of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington is to help boys and girls of all backgrounds, with an emphasis on at-risk youth, to build confidence, develop character, and acquire the skills needed to become productive, civic-minded, responsible adults.

The bees helped to sell beverages at the BBQ battle. This year, Safeway and the Safeway Foundation will donate a portion of the proceeds to support Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington’s Send a Kid to Camp Initiative. This program will help provide scholarships for great summer recreational getaways for club kids and keep them out of harm’s way during a crucial time of the year.

We had an amazing time helping the Boys & Girls Club at the Weddingbee Weekend of Action!

New York City, NY

Mrs. Porcupine, Mrs. Waffle, and Mrs. Castle came together early on Sunday to volunter at NYC’s annual PRIDE festival, setting up tents and even acting as “security” during the morning setup. PrideFest is NYC’s annual LGBT street fair, bringing together local residents and families, community leaders, and area business owners. Attracting thousands of out-of-state visitors and volunteers, this year’s PrideFest marks the 19th annual event. The event featured vendors, entertainers, and community activities for a day of fun celebration of LGBT Pride in the name of equality.

Dallas/Fort Worth, TX

Mr. High Wire, Mrs. High Wire, and BIL High Wire were sorting, organizing, and distributing food to needy families on Saturday morning at Minnie’s Food Pantry, Plano, Texas. Minnie’s Food Pantry is a 501 C3 charity that provides healthy, nutritious food as well as dignity and the red carpet treatment to needy families in the community. Minnie’s Food Pantry focuses on reaching beyond their walls to address the issues of food insecurity and poverty. The High Wire clan (Mr. High Wire, Mrs. High Wire, and BIL High Wire) attended Minnie’s Food pantry for their Saturday morning business hours. They arrived an hour before they opened and began sorting food that filled the room from floor to ceiling. Needy families arrived one by one and each were provided with a grocery cart full of meats, dairy, packaged foods and drinks, fruits, vegetables, and breads. By the end of the open hours that morning, they had provided food to nearly 100 needy families. They gave out all of the fresh food they had. They also sorted and organized all of the non-perishable food that had been donated that week from the North Texas Food Bank.

It was a wonderfully rewarding experience and they will definitely be back!

San Antonio, TX

For the first annual Weddingbee Weekend of Action, the San Antonio bees spent their time at Haven for Hope. Haven for Hope is a really cool place that helps homeless people get back on their feet. They go through a program that gets them clean and job ready so they will be successful in life. Mr. and Mrs. Shortbread and Mr. and Mrs. Petit Four worked all day making pancakes and french toast, cutting bread, and finally serving lunch. They may have been a small group, but they were mighty!

Hartford, CT

For Weddingbee Weekend of Action, The Hartford bees volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. They worked with the Hartford, Connecticut branch. They were able to participate in one of the largest projects this Habitat area has taken on…a complex with 16 homes in it! The bees dove right in and spent the day sanding, caulking, and puttying two of the houses. It was great to be able to do this work, especially because there were a few future homeowners there that day also volunteering, so to be able to see how much this meant to them was a really special experience. Here are a few photos of everyone working. Along with Mrs. Woodpecker, they had MissBoPeep, Omgbunnies, and AstoriaKatie, plus some sisters/friends. It was a great time!

Raleigh-Durham, NC

In 1997 the Autism Society of North Carolina opened Camp Royall, a 133- acre facility located near Pittsboro. Camp Royall houses the nation’s oldest and largest summer camp program for people on the autism spectrum, as well as providing a wide variety of other functions and services throughout the year.

Mrs. Magic and Mrs. Cola at Camp Royall

For the Weddingbee Weekend of Action, Mrs. Magic and Mrs. Cola volunteered at Camp Royall by setting up the dining hall for that week’s first dinner for the campers. Mrs. Magic has worked for many years at Camp Royall and with the Autism Society of North Carolina, and it was a great opportunity to contribute to this wonderful camp that benefits individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Mrs. Magic setting up the salad bar

Prepping the salad

Mrs. Cola and Mrs. Magic checking out the gardens, where campers learn how to take care of plants

It was an amazing experience to give back to the community here in North Carolina, and they are very much looking forward to the next Weekend of Action!

College Station/NW Houston, TX

Mrs. Hyena helped the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity with one of their recent home-building projects. They painted the interior of a house alongside the future owners; Habitat provides these homes to families in need, and those families help with the building process. Habitat’s vision is “a world where everyone has a decent place to live.”

Philadelphia, PA

The project in Philly was called Values through Sports and Arts and Crafts. It’s a recreational program every Saturday at a church in Nicetown, a lower income section of the city. The program accepts volunteers each Saturday to supervise and interact with children ages 5–18 in games, crafts, and athletic activities. Volunteers are also expected to participate in a lunchtime lesson in which they discuss their careers or college plans to help broaden the horizons of the participating children and give them ideas for future goals. Miss Lyre, mrs_money, and two of mrs_money’s girlfriends had a fantastic time hanging out with the kids!! They’ve already been back to volunteer again and will continue to be involved with the program—it was a truly rewarding experience and a wonderful organization.

Chicago, IL

Chicago bees Mrs. Bacon and Mrs. Dalmatian met up bright and early on Saturday morning at the PAWS Rescue Facility in Chicago’s Little Village. PAWS Chicago is the city’s largest “no kill” humane organization, focused on implementing solutions to end the killing of homeless pets. Together they reorganized the donation storage area, which meant folding mountains of towels and sheets to make them easily accessible for the volunteer teams to use when transporting dogs and cats from the rescue facility to the adoption center on the north side and to cuddle the animals after spays and neuters. Once the storage area was spic and span, they moved on to cleaning the offices and hallways—dare I say that the walls were a different color after the ladies were through with them? It was a morning well spent and PAWS can’t wait for Weddingbee to come back again next year!

Thanks for a great weekend of giving back, bees! See you next time!