As always, thank you to all of the sponsors that were a part of the golf tournament! A special thank you to Martin Family Real Estate Group as they were our title sponsor for the full event.

Thank you to everyone for joining us on the event and we are looking forward to next year already!

Our 2021 GGaV 'season' is wrapping up and this year we served 13 families from 5 different states (CA, NY, OR, IA, ID). To date, our founder, Amanda Drews, has managed to attend every single family interview. In most cases, we met virtually this year. However, we managed to conduct 4 of our family interviews in person following COVID safety protocols.

We’ve also worked to broaden our community connections. Having sent our newly designed rack card to different grief support organizations throughout the country, our team is now meeting with some of those groups virtually. This gives us a chance to connect with other organizations such as hospitals and grief support centers serving grieving families. Our hope is to expand awareness about Buzzy's Bees and, where appropriate, collaborate with others to support families dealing with the unexpected death of a child. Do you know of an organization who might like to display some rack cards or send them home with clients? Please reach out to Kelly at kelly@buzzysbees.com to help us connect the dots.

We are proud of this program and, together with support from generous donors like you, we look forward to serving approximately 20 families during the 2021-2022 year. Your contributions are meaningful and we appreciate you.

And as always, if you or anyone you know is interested in being part of our 2022 GGaV program year, please ask them to fill out our short online application.

We are pivoting! COVID continues to keep everyone on our toes. We are now planning a smaller intimate by-invitation-only event on October 23 for our 2021 Give Grief a Voice families. We will miss the opportunity to have a large gathering of families and Buzzy's supporters with food and wine, but hope that we can return to that style of event next year. 

However, there are still two pieces that the general public (this means you!) are invited to attend online. We will have an online art auction online for the 2nd year in a row with generously donated pieces from various artists. In addition, we are prepping a panel discussion as part of the event, which will be live streamed and recorded. COVID won’t keep us from doing our best to serve families grieving the unexpected loss of a child. We will pivot, grow, and innovate as necessary! We hope you join us! Stay tuned for details.

Finally, we're so pleased to give a shout-out 'thank you' to two important partners for this years' events. We have a new shipping partner in Navis Pack & Ship who will make sure the family art gets to their homes after the event in pristine condition. We also have a photography partner in Captivate Creative who will provide professional photos of the auction art pieces to display online!

Please contact us with any event related questions at events@buzzysbees.com.

Ray is a long time friend of the Buzzy's Bees family and is a constant support on our golf tournament committee. He has been involved each year - 5 in a row! - in planning and executing the golf tournament. He might not say so, but truly, the tournament wouldn't be the same without Ray and we want to thank him publicly for his care and support of our organization. You're the best, Ray! Thank you!

Families who have experienced loss always carry their child in their hearts and minds. Every. Day. It is possible that your contribution to Buzzy's Bees is a way to provide support and encouragement to someone you know who is grieving. We welcome contributions in honor of or in memory of an individual or family. Simply let us know if you wish for us to notify them and we will do so if you include their contact information.

Since many of our supporters make their donations through our web site we have recently added an additional feature. There is now a drop down box for you to choose whether or not you would like to make your gift in honor/in memory of an individual. As always, please reach out if you have any questions! hello@buzzysbees.com

If you are looking to get involved with Buzzy's Bees, we are always happy to match your interests, available time, and specific talents with one of our standing committees. Please get in touch! Sometimes folx are looking for a defined role, in which case, here are a couple of opportunities to consider:

Back in July, Buzzy's participated in a fun Bottledrop scavenger hunt celebrating Oregon Bottledrop's 50th year! We encouraged our hive to buzz around their neighborhoods in search of one of the golden bottles. If a golden bottle was found, Buzzy's had a chance of receiving a cash prize to put toward our programs. Unfortunately we did not find one of those lucky bottles, but Bottledrop is giving back to us in another way. We are a registered non-profit with Bottledrop and can receive proceeds from your donated cans and bottles! If you reside in Oregon and want to participate or have any further questions please reach out to Nicole at nicole@buzzysbees.com.

Grief does not discriminate. Buzzy’s Bees is committed to inclusion across identity and experience. We strive to support a broad and diverse community of grieving families.