Hello everyone my name is Matt Pennell, and I’m a beekeeper based in Spokane, WA alongside my brother in law Josh Silva and good friend Colin Axtell. We’ve spent the past few years working to protect local bee populations and bring pure, delicious Pacific Northwest honey to our community.

Beekeeping has been our shared passion — a labor of love that connects us deeply to nature. We started small, growing from a handful of hives into a thriving operation that was finally beginning to flourish.

But recently, tragedy struck.
A bear attack destroyed nearly everything we had built. Overnight, the foundation for years of growth was torn apart, what was once buzzing with life became a pile of broken wood, empty frames and silence.

To make matters even more surreal, just an hour after discovering the damage, my wife went into labor with our first child. It was a whirlwind of emotions — heartbreak and joy colliding in the same day.

In that single attack, we lost:

• Hundreds of thousands of bees

• Over 700 lbs of honey

• Wax, frames, and hive boxes

• And most painfully, the momentum we had built toward next year’s growth.

Altogether the losses total between $15,000 to $25,000 not including the countless hours of work and care poured into our hives.

Despite this setback, we refuse to give up. As Henry Ford once said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”

We’re determined to rebuild — to continue saving the bees, supporting local ecosystems and bringing that sweet PNW honey back to life.

Your donation, no matter the size will help us:

• Replace lost hives and equipment

• Rebuild our bee population to 15 hives

• Protect our apiary from future attacks with electric fencing

• And keep our small beekeeping community thriving.

Thank you for reading, sharing and supporting us during this difficult time. With your help, we can turn this loss into a new beginning — for our family, for our bees and for the planet.

— Matt Pennell “For the love of bees, and the sweetness they bring to life.”