A PASSION FOR BEES
The Bee Girl Organization, a small nonprofit in Oregon, is on a mission to educate and inspire local communities to conserve bees and their flowers to protect our food systems. They invest in regenerative beekeeping, bee habitat research, education, and kids programs to bring a sense of wonder about “the hive” to the people. As voted by our employees, Bee Girl was Avocado's featured May 2018 Giving Partner and received a $69,500 donation.
WHY SAVE THE BEES?
Bees are a crucial part of a very complicated ecosystem that gives us our food. In fact, about 75% of the world’s food crops depend at least partially on pollination. That means there is a whole host of foods that we would be at risk of losing if bees were to become extinct. Coffee, tea, most fruits and vegetables, and many varieties of nuts depend on pollinators in order to grow.
It’s not only nuts and produce that are at risk. The livestock we depend on for meat and dairy products depend on pollination for grains and field beans as well. Tons of species of animals in the wild depend on the fruit, nuts, and seeds that bees pollinate. To lose pollinators would greatly affect entire ecosystems in big ways.
REGENERATIVE BEE PASTURE PROJECT
As a result of our donation, Bee Girl restored 100 acres of highly degraded pasture-land into lush fields to provide habitat for bees, regenerate soil, conserve water, and sequester carbon.
We will utilize the donation to purchase materials and supplies, support staff, organize education events, and continue this truly awesome adventure in finding the very best way to feed bees, while regenerating the environment and surrounding community.
— Sarah Red-Laird, Bee Girl Organization, Executive Director
