We launched our year-end campaign on November 18 while I was at the California State Beekeepers Association Convention in Temecula.
The night before, November 17, I was talking with Juan Garcia Jr. and his brother at the opening mixer. They’re beekeepers from Naples, Florida. Juan owns and operates Sunshine Apiary Inc., providing pollination services across the country.
It was a short conversation. Ten or fifteen minutes, maybe. I walked away having learned five new things.
That’s how it usually goes when you talk with commercial beekeepers. Bees. Farming. Animal husbandry. Pollination. Chemistry. Ecology. Then faith, business, and what hard work actually looks like when your livelihood depends on weather, biology, and timing you can’t control.
Juan has kept bees since 1991. He’s adapted through every major shift this industry has faced. Today he manages between 3,000 and 4,000 hives. He knows the strain on bees. He knows the grind for beekeepers. He knows how thin the margins are across our food system, especially at the edges.
As we kept talking, I told Juan and his brother about Save the Bee and our mission. He didn’t hesitate.
“This is important,” he said. “Let me know when you launch the campaign.”
I work in the nonprofit world. I hear that line a lot. If good intentions paid the bills, we’d be a very different organization.
But here’s what happened next.
The following day, Juan saw me and asked if the campaign was live. I said yes and sent him the link. He became our first donor. He gave $100 and added, “If you need a little more later, just let me know.”
I didn’t need to ask.
On December 24, Juan gave another $200. No reminder. No follow-up. Just action.
And while it’s meaningful that this campaign’s first donor was a beekeeper, that’s not really the point.
The point is what followed.
Non-beekeepers.
Bee advocates.
Businesses.
People who care about food, health, and the environment.
…And an anonymous donor who stepped up to match every dollar, up to $20,000.
Because of that generosity, and because of you, we didn’t just meet our match, we exceeded it!
Bee-cause of you.
Read that again.
We set out to raise $20,000. You turned it into $40,000.
That didn’t happen by accident. It happened because you showed up. You gave. You believed this work matters.
And because of you…
- We’ll plant more habitat where bees are starving for forage.
- We’ll fund more research that helps beekeepers fight losses they didn’t cause.
- We’ll educate more people about how fragile this system really is.
- We’ll push harder on policies that keep breaking what sustains us.
Every dollar above and beyond the match, given before 2025 closes, still shapes what comes next. It lets us plan bigger. Act faster. Do more than we could yesterday.
The match brought us here. Momentum takes us further. If you’re able, give again. If you’ve been waiting, now’s the moment.
Bee-cause of you, we didn’t just survive this year.
Bee-cause of you, we’re building what comes next.
Give before the year ends: https://givebutter.com/2025STB_Match
Thank you to our anonymous match donor. Thank you to Juan. Thank you to the beekeepers, advocates, researchers, organizations, and businesses who carried this effort forward.
And thank you to everyone ready to go the next mile with us.
With gratitude,
Eric Mason
Executive Director, Save the Bee, eric.mason@savethebee.org
