TAMPA, Fla. — A Navy veteran who built a honey bee business from the ground up during the pandemic is rebuilding after Hurricane Helene destroyed his hives, his cars, his savings — and nearly left the family homeless.
Drew Reinhart, owner of D’z B’z Honey, kept his bees at South Tampa Farm when floodwaters from Hurricane Helene swept through, wiping out hundreds of hives and killing millions of bees. The losses cascaded quickly.
"The disruption in our business caused me to drain out the remaining of my savings just to try to keep our personal bills going, and it got to the point to where we were no longer able to afford our rent, and we got evicted," Reinhart said. "It was the most challenging time of my life, and all I can tell you is that if I focused on what was happening in the present, I would not have made it to the future. So when I say it was a complete loss, that's what I mean. It was, it, it took everything from us.”
Before the storm, Reinhart's business had been thriving. In 2021, Tampa Bay 28 reporter Michael Paluska profiled Reinhart during the pandemic, when he launched Dz Bz Honey and was selling CBD-infused honey at farmers' markets across the state.
"When the business was going, I was more financially successful than I've ever been in my life," Reinhart said.
Hurricane Helene changed everything. With his business gone and his family facing eviction, Reinhart turned to St. Vincent de Paul CARES, a nonprofit that connected him with VA funding through the SSVF program to help keep his family off the streets.
Brandon Peebles, operations manager at St. Vincent de Paul CARES, took Reinhart's case.
"I think there's there's definitely a stereotype to homelessness, and he's a true testament to, like, this is somebody who is running a business, this is somebody who's got a family, who's got kids, who's looking to better his life, and it can happen any of us, it can be our family members, it can be our friends, and so I've always taken that approach of like respect or compassion," Peebles said.
South Tampa Farm, where Reinhart kept his bees, was also hit hard by the storm.
"We lost 200 hives, water all the way up to the main house, you know, three feet of water," Blue Ayala, co-owner of South Tampa Farm, told Paluska.
Ayala and her husband recently purchased the nearly five-acre property — where her family had worked for generations — after a planned 11-home development fell through. The farm was saved, and so was the community built around it.
For Reinhart, returning to South Tampa Farm carries deep personal meaning. As a child, Ayala learned the art of beekeeping from his father.
"This storm, I don't think people realize, took so much from hardworking people," Paluska said to Ayala.
"It did, you know, small businesses, you know, you, it takes a community and a village, and we all have to stick with each other to rebuild," Ayala said.
Ayala is now helping Reinhart restock his operation, offering him 20 hives to get started.
"He's got a heart of gold, and I told him your farm family and anything you need that I can help out, like we'll make it happen. So he wants to, he's rebuilding, and that's why I said I got 20 extra ones. I said let's do it," Ayala said.
Reinhart said he is ready to bring D'z B'z Honey back.
"I really am. I've missed it, and a lot of people have told me that. They miss my product as well," Reinhart said.
Reinhart launched a GoFundMe to hopefully get his bee business back up and running.
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