Bees' needs: Charity day at Whole Foods helps area beekeepers

Put this on your honey-do list.

On Thursday, the Tennessee Valley Beekeepers Association will be at Whole Foods with a demonstration hive.

That's a Plexiglas enclosure with live bees on a comb, explains Brian Hamilton. He's media director for the TVBA, so he knows all the buzz.

Blaine's Baklava

Beekeepers will answer any questions shoppers have about bees and beekeeping, and 5 percent of purchases made that day will go to the association.

"It will be by far the most significant fundraiser in the history of the TVBA," Hamilton says.

These 5 Percent Days are held quarterly in each store, part of the company's Store Level Giving Program, aimed at helping nonprofits that have "limited budgets and big hearts," according to the Whole Foods Markets website.

The company's focus, says the site, is to support innovative groups that strive to make the world a better place, one where "the environment is preserved and replenished, communities are strong, health is a priority, organic farming is cherished and where all living beings are respected."

Chloe George, store support associate team leader for the Chattanooga location, says the final decision among the applications received each quarter is made by store associates.

"We put out information on each organization and let [employees] vote," she says. "Everyone who works here gets to have input on who we choose."

At the end of the day, 5 percent of sales is calculated as a donation for the designated organization. The more people who shop, the greater the donation.

Hamilton says the beekeepers will use proceeds for their mentorship program, which trains new beekeepers.

Generally, 15 students take part in the program, one for each of the 15 state-registered hives on-site at the UT Extension Office on Bonny Oaks Drive, Hamilton says. Newbies, starting with no knowledge and no equipment, are paired with experienced beekeepers over several months to learn the basics. Participants meet evenings or Saturdays for hands-on training and lectures.

Hamilton says longtime members will bring that same expertise to Whole Foods for 5 Percent Day. They can readily answer questions about their own hives or bequeath more general knowledge about queen bees, the queens' pollen-seeking drones and how the flora the worker bees find contributes to the taste of the honey they produce. They'll also explain how crucial bees are to the food supply and the critical problem of colony collapse disorder, a phenomenon in which the majority of worker bees in a colony disappear.

First reported in 2006, colony collapse disorder has put scientists and backyard beekeepers on alert for understanding the multiple stressors that can lead to colony loss. The number of colonies lost to CCD has been declining since 2008, according to the National Pesticide Information Center, but the overall colony loss rate is still a major concern.

Ken Lee, a retired banker from Dunlap, Tenn., who has been beekeeping about five years, says there are multiple contributing factors.

"Right now, one of the biggest things we're dealing with is the loss of habitat for bees," he says.

There are also natural pests, such as Varroa mites and small hive beetles, plus "pesticides and chemicals are always a problem."

There's no simple answer for protecting bees, he says. "It's kind of a combination of all those things."

The beekeepers won't have samples of their honey, but George says Whole Foods carries a dozen brands, and each brand has multiple flavors.

If nothing else, the TVBA members are simply happy to talk on the bees' behalf to shoppers Thursday, Hamilton says. But if the event can beget new hobbyists, that would be sweet.

Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.