Young adults aging out of foster care and those who need support have allies in the local bee population, a local doctor and a chocolate shop.

Brian Stork, a University of Michigan assistant professor of urology, took up beekeeping with his kids and was looking for ideas for a unique Mother’s Day gift for his wife, Marisol.

A conversation with Patricia Christopher from Patricia’s Chocolate in Grand Haven resulted in the idea to make a tiny chocolate beehive filled with honey ganache and decorated with 22 karat edible gold leaf. Stork’s Happy Hive Honey Chocolates was born. Marisol loved the confection, and they decided to sell the honey chocolates. Since then, more than $10,000 in proceeds have gone to Step Up in Muskegon.

Founded in 2015 by Dick (a U-M Medical School alum) and Lynn Kamps together with a group from their church, Step Up helps unsupported young adults with stable housing, adult mentors and other services so they can become successfully independent.

“We found, especially kids who are aging in foster care at age 18, are leaving the system without much guidance,” said Lynn Kamps. “Over 50% have not completed high school. They have trouble managing their finances. Most don’t have a driver’s license.”

So far, Step Up has assisted 45 young women and men. Chocolate revenues help support the continued function of the houses, funds for driver’s training and the Sunday dinner program, providing family dinner time for the group. They invite graduates to return at any time for the dinners to share updates on their lives.

A young mom who is a recent graduate of the Step Up maternity house credits the Kamps and Step Up for helping her go from 18 and homeless to a high school graduate and young mother who works in manufacturing during two different stays.

“I was not open to it the first time, but they’ve helped me with budgeting, getting my driver’s license. They helped me finish high school and just really get my independence,” she said. “I don’t have family like that but I know there’s other people who are willing to step up.”

The second time she stayed at Step Up, it was with her newborn.

“Being at Step Up helped me so much with my daughter. Just having them be there to support me … yeah, it’s scary. Life is tough, but you don’t have to do it alone. They have just been really great people to me and I’ve appreciated all they’ve done for me,” she said.

Stork grew up on a farm in Iowa and his uncles were beekeepers. But he didn’t start beekeeping until about 10 years ago. Now, at the height of summer, he tends over 250,000 bees. How much they produce depends on the weather and other factors, but Stork figures he takes about 100 pounds of honey in the fall to use in the chocolate. If he was selling it by the bottle, he’d need to take a lot more than that.

“One of the great things about it is because you can create so much value by putting the chocolate and the honey together as opposed to selling it in bottles and essentially robbing the hives of more honey,” Stork said. “And especially during the winter months, that’s what they survive on—the honey that they’ve stored during the spring and summer and early fall.”

Stork harvests, filters and bottles the honey and delivers it to Patricia’s, where she will “work her magic and transform the honey into all sorts of different products,” he said. Patricia’s husband, Paul, creates the artwork for the packaging along with marketing and advertising.

Christopher, a retired school psychologist and special education teacher, trained as a pastry chef and opened her shop in 2016. For the Happy Hive Honey Chocolates, she experimented quite a bit before she made the perfect honey ganache. She also makes pear slices drenched in caramel honey and then double-dipped in chocolate.

“We also have a honeycomb toffee that is super popular. And that is kind of a cross between a toffee and a seafoam that’s drenched in chocolate as well,” she said.

And another nonprofit, Read Ottawa, which focuses on adult literacy, is beginning to see donations from purchases of a macaron developed by Patricia’s Chocolate, said Ally Velderman, executive director.

“It’s a big help since three-fourths of our funding comes from local donations,” said Ally, whose group has helped more than 700 adults learn to read since 2009.

Next up, Patricia’s Chocolate has developed a honey caramel for U-M’s SafERteens program, which focuses on youth violence prevention.

“So there are three different nonprofits we’re supporting using Dr. Stork’s honey. We think that’s a win for all of us,” Christopher said. “It’s a pleasure to create a product that started with bees, gives people joy and meets community needs.”