Love for People and Pollinators
Bees do so much more than produce honey. By pollinating plants, they support entire ecosystems, and in fact make food possible for all of us. It is often said bees are responsible for one out of three bites of food we take. The truth is that we are all deeply connected to these pollinators, even if we don’t recognize it in our day-to-day lives.
For Sarah Common, co-founder and executive director of the non- profit society Hives for Humanity (H4H), that relationship isn’t taken for granted. That’s because her entire organization revolves around fostering a connection between at-risk people and at-risk pollinators. In the process, Hives for Humanity — not unlike the bees upon which we all depend — fosters symbiotic relationships and supports our shared community.
Programs and services
According to Common, “H4H creates opportunities for con- nection to community, through nature, bees and the culture of the hive.” The organization aims to build self-worth among eco- nomically vulnerable people in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) by teaching them the skills involved in beekeeping and allowing them to learn by experiencing the therapeutic culture that surrounds beehives.
It’s an understatement to say that H4H team is as busy as the bees. Its members manage 21 therapeutic apiaries and eight garden" "spaces and each location creates opportunities for mentorship training and work experience.
Programs and services include such options as therapeutic bee- keeping, mentorship beekeeping, honey and beeswax production and pollinator gardening. 4H4 also works to raise awareness about people and pollinators living at risk, and teach practical skills for creating change.
“Every week, we work with a core team of 20 DTES community members who volunteer their time with our organization in exchange for access to training, work experience, community and honey.” The volunteers work as beekeepers, gardeners, candle makers, seed savers and honey harvesters.
Community and connection are key.
“When people are experiencing addiction, they are often isolated, shamed and excluded,” Common says. “In this way, connection is the opposite of addiction. When people connect with each other… bridges of understanding are created. We are all one, all connected, enriched by and dependent on each other and our surroundings.”
The power — and plight — of pollinators
“Honey bees are a unique entry point into a greater understanding of our food systems and our ecosystems, and the need to foster and" "include diversity of plants, pollinators and people, for a resilient food system and a resilient world,” Common says.
“This is largely because of their social nature — they dance, they buzz, they share, they store, they defend and work together for the health of the colony, which can be up to 60,000 individuals in peak season,” Common says. “This social behaviour makes them incredibly adaptable and allows us to enter into communication with them — to manage them. They make delicious honey, and they make energy-dense wax, they collect pollen and resin, all of which we can use as foods and medicines in our human communities, and all of this while pollinating the flowers that create the fruits and vegetables humans and other animals rely on for sustenance.”
Sadly, science is telling us that the bees need our help. “The loss of undisturbed habitat and the loss of diverse forage, along with increasing mono-cultural and agro-chemical dependence in our food systems, are resulting in the loss of entire species of pollinators, including many species of native bees,” Common explains. “We need to move to systems that are not based on extraction and short- term profit, but in reciprocity and long-term balance.”
Reciprocity and balance are included in H4H’s practices, which include added ethical and environmental measures that H4H takes when beekeeping. For instance, Common describes how the" "bees are kept in place over the season, which reduces the stresses of moving them from crop to crop. They also practise organic principles, “which means we use organic acids to treat for mites and integrated pest-management tools to monitor and manage levels of pests and pathogens,” says Common.
The beginning
H4H was founded in September 2012 by Common and her mother, Julia (a master beekeeper), after a successful pilot program in partnership with the PHS Community Services Society. At the time, Common was working at the Hastings Folk Garden in the DTES. The seed of an idea was planted.
Since that first colony, their partnerships have expanded, with hives and/or gardens at Atira Women’s Resource Society, RainCity Housing Society, BC Housing, Lookout Society and Vancouver Convention Centre. H4H also supports the hives at Science World. Additionally, many restaurants and retailers throughout Vancouver and its surrounding areas carry or feature H4H products (including honey, candles and natural self-care products) and/or retain their services (such as beekeeping and pollinator-centred workshops and programs, gardening, beekeeping, speaking and teaching).
Looking to the future
In the short term, H4H’s goals for the year are to continue to fundraise and support its members. Currently H4H is showcasing"
"its members’ voices on its Instagram page. H4H will also be re- launching its neighbourhood honey flights on its online store in December. Common also wishes to continue building gardens and apiaries with partners, “focusing on locations where we are able to enhance and support community in meaningful ways.”
Common also speaks to the goals and future of the organization more broadly. “There is a gap in inclusive opportunities that acknowledge that all people have skills to contribute, that offer supports around participation, and that honour people’s time and contributions with appropriate cultural and economic reciprocity… There is immense desire to participate, give, learn and share — to care for each other as we care for the bees and gardens. H4H strives to fill this gap by offering meaningful opportunities to share these skills and create a green space that shows we all have worth.”
The pandemic has had deep and long-lasting implications and has made the importance of connection more clear. B.C. had a record number of preventable overdose deaths in the past three months
— all related to the increased isolation, the ongoing drug policy crisis and the exclusion along lines of race and class that has been further revealed by COVD-19, Common says.
The community of the DTES responded rapidly in March, working through existing relationships and partnerships to collaborate, find funding and pivot programming to support food security and access to health and sanitation supplies for the" "poor, homeless and under-housed.
“Through this time, when so many of us with privilege have been working in our gardens, isolated in our homes, feeling the loss and navigating the change, more than 2,000 people in our city are without homes,” Common says. “Leadership is about listening, decentralizing power, working together. We know this from working with the bees, and we might use it to thrive together as a community.”
Support H4H
The final tally isn’t yet in, but H4H has extracted close to 1500 pounds of honey this year alone. Shoppers can purchase the raw honey and other products, such as apparel, candles and propolis- infused hand salves (“to help boost immunity and keep skin from cracking while we are all washing our hands more often,” Common says), on the H4H online store. For those looking to get crafty, beeswax is also available for DIY projects such as lip balm, candles and wax cloths, including Common's recipe for making the re-useable cloths. People can also support H4H by sponsoring an existing hive or the costs of running a workshop.
Hives for Humanity
1245 Glen Dr., Vancouver
hivesforhumanity.com | 778.889.3421 | @hives4humanity
