Kiwanis Club of North Ridgeville shares beekeeping facts at storytime
The Kiwanis Club of North Ridgeville hosted a Kiwanis and Community Helper Storytime at the Lorain Public Library System North Ridgeville Branch, 35700 Bainbridge Road.
The interactive storytime May 2 featured beekeeper and club Treasurer Gary Krone, who provided facts on bees and read books aloud for guests.
According to club President Toni Krone, each quarterly storytime event features a guest representing a profession, such as a police officer, dentist or firefighter, to help children learn about the responsibilities of each occupation.
“We’re all about the kids,” Toni Krone said. “We thought it would be a fun thing to do.”
Gary Krone and Felicia Coffey, public services professional at the North Ridgeville Branch, led the program with songs and stories about bees, encouraging both children and adults to participate.
Gary Krone said he has been a beekeeper for 25 years and enjoys spreading awareness about the importance of bees and the role they play in the environment.
The storytime event was filled with educational material surrounding the life cycle of a bee, how bees make honey, honeycombs, beeswax, the queen bee, beehives, pollen, beekeeping material and equipment and many other facts, he said.

Samples of beeswax and honeycomb were passed around the audience for patrons to see close-up.
“Bees are such incredible insects, creatures,” Gary Krone said. “My favorite part is just spreading that knowledge about them and what they do for us, and how beneficial they are to our society.”
The Kiwanis Club also provided free books, snacks, drinks and homemade pillows with carrying handles and book pouches for the children who attended.
Toni Krone said club members who enjoyed sewing made each pillow featuring a variety of fabrics.
“It’s (the pillows) so thoughtful,” Coffey said. “It upped the level of education that we usually get in our storytimes, because it was very, very informative and something the kids were interested in, too.”
According to Coffey, the program emphasized that bees are not a creature to be scared of because they sting but rather to treat them with care.
“I feel like a childhood fear is related to bees are bugs,” she said. “So, normalizing that and making them (children) comfortable with interacting with that is very important.
“They’re our friends; they make us honey and we care for them.”
Currently, the Kiwanis Club is working on different bee-related projects with the K-Kids Club, Builders Club and Key Club in the North Ridgeville City Schools, Toni Krone said.
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