2.5 Tons of Honey Donated to St. Louis Hunger Relief Nonprofit

6,480 Bottle of Honey Will Help Fuel Fresh Meals For Those Facing Food Insecurity Across St. Louis Area and Beyond

ST. LOUIS, MO, UNITED STATES, March 18, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The Sioux Honey Co-op and Dierbergs Markets donated enough honey today at Operation Food Search to coat the entire infield at Busch Stadium with a golden glaze of sweetness. The shelf-stable pantry item is a welcome pinch-hit for families facing food insecurity in the region.

In St. Louis, an estimated 18.4% of residents are experiencing food insecurity – including about 1 in 7 adults and 1 in 6 children – a figure that stands above both state and national averages, according to the University of Missouri’s Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security 2025 Missouri Hunger Atlas.

Totaling 4,860 pounds, the donated Sue Bee^® honey will help nonprofit Operation Food Search supply families across Missouri and Illinois with a versatile food staple that requires no refrigeration, has a remarkably long shelf life and blends effortlessly with a variety of foods and beverages.

“A donation of this size is helpful to many OFS programs. It gives us the ability to provide free, nutritious food via OFS MetroMarket to families enrolled in our Operation Backpack and Food is Medicine programs, and for use in our teaching kitchen and nutrition education classes,” said Operation Food Search President and CEO Kristen Wild. “We gratefully thank Sioux Honey Co-op and Dierbergs for their generosity.”

As Missouri’s largest independent food bank, Operation Food Search serves more than 200,000 people each month through a network of 600 community partners spanning 24 counties in Missouri and Illinois.

Have honey, will travel
Sioux Honey’s “Sharing Sweetness” program delivers a practical ingredient that can be easily moved through food bank networks while also telling a deeper story about the agricultural families behind it. Through a series of large scale donations like this one in St. Louis, “Sharing Sweetness” has quietly become a coast to coast effort by delivering U.S. Farmed™ certified honey from more than 200 beekeeper families to food banks and community pantries across the U.S.

“In the past two years, our beekeepers have donated almost 80 tons – more than 160,000 pounds of honey – of our Sue Bee^® honey,” said Aimee Sandman, director of growth and community impact at Sioux Honey.

“Our beekeeper families live in communities just like St. Louis, and with our recent U.S. Farmed™ certification we have deepened our commitment even more to supporting American beekeeping and expanding access to nourishing food because we believe food should be both nourishing and accessible.”

Just in time for MetroMarket
The 2.5-ton load of honey comes as Operation Food Search prepares for a busy season of fresh produce from area farmers. That locally harvested food helps supply the nonprofit’s MetroMarket, a mobile, year-round farmers-market-themed food program that is made possible in large part through the longstanding support and community partnership with Dierbergs. MetroMarket brings fresh, locally sourced food directly into neighborhoods with limited access to full-service grocery stores, at much more affordable costs.

Through its partnership with Dierbergs – which has donated nearly $65 million worth of product and more than $1 million in monetary contributions over its 40-plus-year relationship with OFS – the nonprofit was able to recently purchase new sidewalk-style Farmers Trucks to pair with MetroMarket’s Fresh Food Kiosks and Indoor Markets.

That makes today’s donation especially meaningful as honeybees help pollinate many of the fruits and vegetables that move through MetroMarket and other food outreach programs, which creates a natural link between Sioux Honey’s beekeeper families and Dierbergs’ and Operation Food Search’s ongoing efforts to expand access to fresh food.

“This year, with help from our generous corporate sponsors like Dierbergs, we’re nearly doubling the number of MetroMarkets to more than 650 market events in 2026, so we’ll gladly accept as many bottles of honey as we can,” Brown at OFS added.

“We can pair it with the fresh fruits, vegetables and pantry staples we stock on MetroMarket, giving families simple, budget friendly ways to stretch ingredients into breakfasts, snacks and dinners all week long.”

St. Louis partnership continues to grow
The donation today at OFS also highlights the deep community roots of Dierbergs, which now operates 27 stores across Missouri and Illinois.

For more than four decades, Dierbergs has partnered with Operation Food Search, reflecting the grocer’s longstanding commitment to supporting hunger-relief efforts and serving as a community anchor across the St. Louis region.

“This donation reflects what our community can accomplish when we work together,” said Andy Pauk, Dierbergs COO and member of the OFS Food Advisory Board. “Our partnership with Operation Food Search and Sioux Honey helps bring comfort and nourishment to the families we’re proud to serve.”

More than food
Beyond its culinary appeal, honey also carries natural wellness benefits. It has long been used to soothe coughs and sore throats, provide quick natural energy and even help calm minor sunburns.

Honey’s value also begins long before it reaches a pantry shelf. Honeybees are among agriculture’s most important pollinators, helping pollinate one out of every three bites of food we take. Their work supports the growth of fruits, vegetables, nuts and countless other crops.

Each year, Sioux Honey’s beekeepers collect about 35 million pounds of honey, which represented about 1/4 of the total honey harvested in the United States in 2024, the most recent figures available. It’s a labor of love for Sioux Honey beekeepers, and a labor of a lifetime for honeybees.

Coincidently, it took 5.6 million honeybees their entire lifetime to fill the 6,480 bottles (12 oz each) of honey delivered to Operation Food Search today. It takes each worker bee its entire six week life to produce one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey, a reminder that every bottle carries the collective work of millions of tiny pollinators and the American beekeeping families who steward them.

For more information, please visit:
OperationFoodSearch.org
Dierbergs.com
SiouxHoney.com

Jim Minge
Wayfinder PR
+1 402-740-8188
jminge@wayfinderpr.com

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