The 2024 Bees4Vets Program is off and flying!

Well, sort of…May 4th was unseasonably cold so we had to move indoors for a mock “Honey Bee Installation Day” that included a lecture on beekeeping equipment. Following the presentation and pizza party, bee coats and other program items such as smokers, hive tools and Kim Flottum’s “The Backyard Beekeeper” were distributed to attendees. We are looking forward to May 11th, and hopefully warm sunny weather to get out and enjoy the beauty of our Truckee Meadows with a few hundred thousand humming bees.

 

 

 

#nvenergyfoundation

 

Bees4Vets needs your help at the Reno Air Races

Bees4Vets is looking for volunteers at the Air Races in September. Please share the volunteer opportunity with friends and family. The event will include the US Air Force Thunderbirds, US Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey, F-35A Lightning II, Tucker’s Air Patrol and Jim Peitz Aerosports demonstrations, volunteering for our booth will earn free passes to the air show. We will be selling Reno Air Race Association merchandise. Setup will be Sunday Sept 12. We will need 10 people for set up and then 10 people morning and afternoon Monday and Tuesday. We will need at least 12 Wednesday through Sunday. If you can help out, Ruth Ann has set up a signup form at https://forms.office.com/r/11hEvaBT44. You can fill that out and select the days and shifts you want to help out with. This is a major fundraiser for Bees4Vets as well as being good exposure for us. If you have friends or family who would also like to volunteer – please send them our way, the more the merrier!

Interviewed by NBC

NBC came out and interviewed a few of our students as well as our staff.  This is one of our students being interviewed.

Bees4Vets still has openings for students

Bees4Vets still has openings for students

Bees4Vets still has student openings for this 2019 season. If you are a Veteran or First Responder with PTSD or TBI and are interested in our program, please contact us right away! If you know a Veteran or First Responder who might be interested in our program, please have them contact us. We’d be more than happy to talk to them and answer any questions they may have. The weather has pushed back the start of our beekeeping season, but we will be starting shortly.

Don’t delay, our total number of spots is limited!

We need your help, winter has not been kind to the bees

We need your help, winter has not been kind to the bees

Hive losses this winter have been heavy all over the country. Unfortunately, our apiary isn’t any different. At the high point last summer we had 32 hives. We went into fall with 26. We have come out of winter with 7, and only 2 of those look reasonably strong.

For us, this is a huge loss. We now need to replace more hives than anticipated and, since our students graduate with a hive and we don’t have hives to split, we need top purchase 6 additional hives for them, too. That means we need to purchase about 30 hives total in the next few weeks (and find someone who has nucleus colonies available for purchase still.) These will cost is between $160 and $200 each, assuming prices don’t go up dramatically due to the increased demand.

So, this is where you come in. Our only way to purchase the hives we need is to ask all of you to help us out. We need to raise sufficient funds to pay for the hives and only have 4 to 6 weeks to do so. There are a couple of options for how you can help us out.

Any donation will be a help, no donation is too small or too large. (We use PayPal for credit card processing. They take out 2.2% plus $0.30 per transaction. You do not need a PayPal account to donate.)

If you want to see what one of our students has to say about the program, please watch the video below, it will only take 60 seconds.

Thank you for your support of our program and your willingness to help us help our veterans and first responders.