WEBSTER, N.Y. — A Webster gift shop is trying to spread hope and raise some money with honey bees, some creativity and Ukraine’s sunflower for inspiration.

“I’m the honey lady, the bee lady here at The North Bee on North Avenue in the village Webster," said Amy Stringer.  

Amy Stringer is a beekeeper. Right now she has 700,000 bees ready for spring. She makes and sells what she calls “handcrafted goodness from the hive.” She extracts renders and creates with beeswax.

“I started with one hive about six years ago and I now have 14 hives. So fingers-crossed coming out of spring that I have at least 10,” laughed Stringer.

At her Webster gift shop, you will find beeswax products for home and body. All this month she is focused on making as many beeswax sunflowers as she can.

“I just very carefully, it is nice and hot, pour it into the silicone mold,” Stringer said. “This is a new sunflower that I am going to offer."

She makes four different sunflowers designs from beeswax. The sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine. Her great-grandmother is from Ukraine.

“It is part of my heritage,” Stringer said. “[My great-grandmother Anne] came over here with her parents. Unfortunately, she died a year before I was born. I was watching the devastation going on over there and I was like, ‘I have to do something,’ like most of us feel. Since I had a business I felt that I could involve my customers and the community because my customers are awesome. So, I am making sunflowers all day.”

Every penny of every $10 sunflower suncatcher sold will support the humanitarian aid effort for Ukraine.

“I love doing it and I’m so excited,” she said. “I’m going to be doing this all month and I’m going to turn all of the money over to ROC Maidan.”

The North Bee has already sold 90 sunflower suncatchers. The response is so good, Stringer suggests you pre-order sunflowers online at the North Bee Shop.