Accomplish Your Goals

Carly and Molly are not your ordinary sisters. Though they are just 13 and 15 they founded Hives for Lives, a non-profit organization that sells honey and honey products, and donates all profits to the American Cancer Society. Carly and Molly, who grew up helping with their grandparents' beekeeping hobby, started Hives for Lives in 2004, as a way to honor their grandfather, who died that year of cancer. Determined to turn their grief into something positive, the sisters decided to harvest the honey from their family's bee hives, and sell it to raise money for cancer research. The girls added beeswax candles and lip balm to their product line, created a web site, and came up with a slogan — 'Bee the cure we seek.' Assisted by a team of their peers (volunteer Bee Helpers), the girls harvest, filter, and jar the honey; mold the beeswax into honey bear candles and lip balms; and package and ship their products all over the country. When demand outgrew the capacity of their family's hives, the girls secured additional honey from other honey producers and honey donations from 4H clubs and other similar partners. Though it started with just two girls, Hives for Lives has truly become a community project. 'It feels so good to accomplish your goals and help change the world in some way,' says Carly.
By Anonymous