Honey Festival fosters family appreciation
Elan Welter Lewis, founder and executive director of Family Pathways, said the county’s first Honey Festival on Saturday, Sept. 30, was inspired by the cooperation of honey bees.
“The way bees work to make their hives survive — that’s the way families have to work,” she said. “That’s the way communities have to work.”
The festival was held at Monarch Place, 100 Brugh Ave.
As a recent member of the Beekeepers of Armstrong, Butler, Clarion and Indiana Counties and a first-year beekeeper herself, Lewis said the message of honey bees hives “just felt right” for a Family Pathways festival.
“It’s that family organization and how everybody works together to achieve a common goal and to survive,” said Lewis, who has a doctorate in education. “That’s where I thought, ‘Wow, this is just the way Family Pathways thinks.’”
Additionally, because it is the organization’s 25th anniversary, Lewis said she wanted to do “something special” this year.
“Family Pathways is a nonprofit organization, and we are all about strengthening families,” she said. “That’s our primary goal; it’s the primary mission of the organization. We pretty much do anything we can to keep families together.”
Alongside adoption services, Lewis said the organization helps provide foster care, kinship care (which is care within the extended, not immediate, family — such as an uncle or aunt, for example), mental health services for traumatized children and legacy programs to assist families at risk of losing their children.
“We really wanted to recruit foster families today and bring more homes to Butler County for our children to keep their families together when possible,” she said. “And when it’s not possible, we want some really good hands to take them.”
As part of that effort, the event hosted a “matching event” for older youth — along with 12 other agencies.
“When children become completely eligible for adoption, they have matching events,” Lewis said. “We put pictures up and families can come in and read the bios and think about if maybe they could provide a home for them.”
She said a number of families had already expressed interest in becoming foster homes and that she was shooting for at least 15 before the end of the event.
“It’s the first year, but we have had over 100 people come through,” she said. “And we still are not halfway through the day.”
Family Pathways partnership with the Beekeepers of ABCI was facilitated by former group president Ken Bowman.
“The theme of it is ‘Bee my honey,’” he said. “It’s a play on words (meant to encourage) foster parents to bring foster kids into their family, or the other way around — kids in need looking for foster families.”
Bowman said the cause held a special significance for him through his wife’s work.
“When I started dating my wife in 1990, she was the adoption and foster care coordinator for Children and Youth of Armstrong County,” he said. “Through her, I have an appreciation for how valuable a service that is for the community, so when I learned that this organization specializes in that, I said, ‘I want to be a part of that.’”
With about 60 members in the organization, Bowman said the group helped organize everything from beekeeping demonstrations to arts and crafts for the event.
“I think we’ve got about a dozen members who are here today doing many different stations,” he said.
In addition to the Beekeepers of ABCI, the event welcomed 12 local vendors and the 2023 Pennsylvania Honey Princess Natalie Shimo.
“I am the oldest of six, and all of my siblings have been adopted internationally,” Shimo said. “I’m really close with my family, so I like doing family-centered events that support the family and community.
“And with it having the adoption tie-in, it’s really close to my family’s heart.”
For families looking to get involved in foster care, Shimo reminded them that there were a variety of opportunities with organizations like Family Pathways.
“Even if you and your family can’t do it, you can find a way to support the families that are,” she said.
One of those ways, according to Shimo, is respite care.
“Respite care is offering to watch the adopted or foster child for an evening to give the parents a break,” Lewis said. “Or even for a weekend.”
Lewis went on to say that she hoped the event helped visitors recognize the importance of family assistance in the post-pandemic world.
“We need to work together to build emotional resilience again, and we need to reach out and help families who are struggling,” she said. “That’s my biggest thing, because families are really struggling right now.”
Want to learn more?
To learn more about Family Pathways and foster care opportunities, visit familypathways.net or call 724-284-9440.
For membership with or questions for the Beekeepers of ABCI, email abcibeekeepers@gmail.com.
