A love of honey and a desire to help the bee population is behind a donation to the Living Prairie Museum.
“They give us honey and honey is tasty,” said Jase Vitt, one of five children behind the Loving Lemons Lemonade Stand based in East Selkirk.
“They are dying, so we raised money to plant more flowers for the bees.”
The lemonade stand brought in $400 in August. It was the group’s third event and in each case the children pick a different cause to donate their profits to. Community support for the group has continued to grow.
“It is fun and they are for good causes, so we usually get more money than a normal lemonade stand,” said Jade Vitt.
They decided to support the Living Prairie Museum after learning how they are helping grow the bee population around Winnipeg.
“I chanted ‘help save the bees!’” said Violet Baschuk, explaining her tactic to get more visitors to the lemonade stand.
The museum employees and volunteers have been overwhelmed with the generosity of the young children.
“It was such a sweet thing for them to do,” said Sarah Semmler, the Living Prairie Museum Director. “They had a lot of community support and it was very flattering to be selected as the place for this money to go.”
Semmler said the money will be used for the museum’s environmental education programs that encourage pollinator conservation, as well as help maintain and grow its pollinator beds.
“To see pollinator conservation coming from that age group is very encouraging because it gives you hope for the future. It is something everyone can learn from,” said Semmler.
The museum, in partnership with Bee Better Manitoba, recently launched a new website to help conserve bees and other pollinators. It provides residents with valuable information and detailed tips for creating pollinator habitat.