“For the Love of Bees” is a collaboration that aims to improve the city’s ecosystem through community-led actions including bee conservation.  Mt Eden Rotary have supported this initiative by building and providing a garden storage shed and associated flooring materials
 
“For the Love of Bees” is a collaboration facilitated by Sarah Smuts-Kennedy, and supported by Auckland Council, which aims to improve the city’s ecosystem through community-led actions including bee conservation.

The collaboration has a number of projects underway, including transforming the Symonds Street Junction Community Garden (at 257 Symonds Street, Eden Terrace) into the first inner city Organic Market Garden (OMG) and community teaching hub.

The aim of the OMG is to break the myth that industrialized food production is the only way. Inspired by sustainability and wellness, the OMG will be a living example of the role of urban farming in achieving a sustainable and regenerative food system for Auckland.

“For the Love of Bees” wishes to inspire local residents, businesses and communities in the uptown neighborhood to learn new concepts and gain practical skills, on how to grow nutrient dense food by using organic and biodynamic principles, in an open access teaching hub.

However, in order to achieve the transformation, the OMG site really needed a storage shed for gardening tools – as a number of the volunteers walk and cycle to the site, and this is difficult with tools.

Mt Eden Rotary saw that the OMG project would help meet the needs of the local community in a number of ways, including fresh vegetables, healthy living education, volunteering opportunities, beehive opportunities and community development. The club was therefore delighted to help out with a baked goods stall in November 2018 as a fundraiser for the garden storage shed and associated flooring materials.

Mt Eden Rotary is particularly grateful for the support provided by Bunnings Warehouse Grey Lynn and the Rotary Foundation which allowed them to achieve their fundraising goal of $1,800.
 
Article from the March 2019 edition of the District 9920 Foundation Newsletter