In Early 2017, our Chief Steward Nathan "Nature Nate" Sheets, partnered with Elmer Lessa, a pastor in Parintins, Brazil to bring hives to impoverished villages in the Amazon Rainforest. The goal of the mission was to give the people not only the means to provide for themselves. In combination with money raised from students of the Prestonwood Bible School, we were able to donate $50,000 which equates to 150 hives, as well as land to keep them on.

With this, Nathan and our Chief of Sales, Ryan McCoy, flew out and helped establish these new hives and teach best bee keeping practices. With the help of Alessandro, a local graduate student getting his masters in beekeeping, and Lucas, his student, we were able to introduce hives of native stingless bees to the area.

The benefit of introducing this particular species isn't just that this removes the barrier of entry of needing protective gear to be a bee keeper. It is also critical that a native species is introduced in order to ensure the overall well-being of the ecosystem, as a non-native species will become invasive and can interfere with the survival of existing bee populations.