Our Young Bee Crusaders

“Dear Bee Scientists,” wrote 6-year-old Katie Brown of Phoenix, Ariz.  “I am giving this money to you so you can help the bees. I love the bees.”

She enclosed $20 from her allowance savings.

Hannah Fisher Gray, 11, of Wilmington, Del., asked her friends to skip birthday presents for her and instead help support honey bee research.

Hannah collected $110 at her birthday party and then contributed $110 from her own money so that both UC Davis and Pennsylvania State University could benefit.

The girls are the newest bee crusaders, said Lynn Kimsey, chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology.

“These are very generous gifts from the heart,” Kimsey said. “It’s very touching that these girls would take a special interest in helping us save the honey bees.”

Hannah, a fifth grader from Wilmington, Del., enclosed the $110 check in a letter to professor Kimsey.

In the letter, Hannah expressed her concern “about our environment and its creatures, especially the honey bees.”

“I saw the Häagen-Dazs commercial and I instantly wanted to learn more,” she wrote. “I researched about bees and learned ways I could help, such as donating money, using honey instead of sugar, planting honeybee-friendly plants and supporting beekeepers.”

 “For my birthday party, I asked my guests to make gifts of money to support honeybee research instead of giving presents for me. The total of these gifts was $110. I am making a matching gift of $110 of my own money, and splitting the gift between the University of California, Davis and Pennsylvania State University.”

One of Hannah’s birthday gifts was a T-shirt proclaiming “Bee a Hero.” And, in keeping with her passion for bees, she dressed in a honey bee costume last Halloween.

Hannah learned of the troubling bee crisis from the national Häagen-Dazs campaign, launched Feb. 19 to create awareness for the plight of the honey bee. Nearly 40 percent of Häagen-Dazs brand ice cream flavors are linked to fruits and nuts pollinated by bees.

Katie Brown learned of the plight of the honey bees through the Häagen-Dazs Web site, www.helpthehoneybees.com.

Her mother, Molly Pont-Brown, said that Katie "gets a portion of her allowance each week for charity and had been wanting to help the bees and saving up for a long time, so we were looking online for ways to help the bees and stumbled upon their (Häagen-Dazs) program.”

In her donation letter to UC Davis, Katie drew the Häagen-Dazs symbol, “HD Loves HB,” and two smiling bees. She signed her name with three hearts.

Eager to share information with her classmates on the plight of the honey bees, Katie took photos of foods that bees pollinate and served Honey Bee Vanilla ice cream, the new flavor that Häagen-Dazs created last year as part of its bee crisis-awareness campaign.

Katie is "about to give another $40 additionally from her Star Student Week," her mother said.  The six-year-old chose to donate $2 per child to the honey bee research program instead of buying the customary trinkets for them.  Katie also sent each classmate a “bee-mail” from the Häagen-Dazs Web site to let them know about it.

For Christmas, Katie received a Häagen-Dazs bee shirt and bee books from her family. Her grandmother in California is giving her a “bee friendly garden.” Katie’s next birthday party will feature a bee theme, Honey Bee Vanilla ice cream, and will be a benefit for honey bee research.

“What a great thing (the drive to save the bees) for Häagen-Dazs to do,” Molly Pont-Brown wrote in a letter to UC Davis.  “And, of course, we appreciate all your department is doing to help the very important honeybees with your research, as well!”

When told of the Delaware girl’s bee crusader efforts, Katie’s mother said, “It’s fun to hear that there are other little bee crusaders out there, as well.”

As part of its national campaign, Häagen-Dazs last February committed a total of $250,000 for bee research to UC Davis and Pennsylvania State University; formed a seven-member scientific advisory board; created the new ice cream flavor; and launched the Web site, www.helpthehoneybees.com to offer more information on the “unstung heroes.”  The Web site includes information on how to donate to the two honey bee research programs.

The Häagen-Dazs brand is also funding a design competition to create a half-acre honey bee haven garden at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis. The deadline to submit entries is Jan. 30.

UC Davis Extension Apiculturist Eric Mussen, a member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty for 32 years, said the bee population "still has not recovered from previous losses."  Some of the nation's beekeepers have reported losing one-third to 100 percent of their bees due to colony collapse disorder (CCD), in which bee mysteriously abandon their hives. He attributes CCD to multiple factors, including diseases, parasites, pesticides, malnutrition, stress and climate change.

"Bees pollinate about 100 agricultural crops, or about one-third of the food that we eat daily," Mussen said.

Those interesting in donating to the honey bee research program at UC Davis or learning more about the design competition for the honey bee haven can access the Department of Entomology home page.