Helping Bees & Helping People

If you look closely at the book cover to The Body Electric, you'll see that there are bees coming out of the main character Ella's head. If you've read the book (thank you!), you know that bees are highly symbolic to the story. It was a perfect fit for the book--after all, it takes place in Malta, which is named for the Greek word for "honey," and Ella and her friends are fighting to save their home, just like bees would fight to save theirs. And close readers of the text will notice that bees are a recurring image in the book--it's the symbol of the resistance, buzzing sounds herald doom, and Ella sees them in her mind when she goes into her mother's technology.

So, obviously, bees are hugely important to The Body Electric! And another thing that's been hugely important to me with this book is giving back. I wrote this book for you, the readers who made my dreams of publication and being a full-time writer come true. But being grateful goes past just myself, and giving back needs more than just a book.

That's why, for the entire month of December, $1 from every sale of The Body Electric will go to a very special World Vision charity. 

World Vision is a charity focused on helping developing nations and people in need, with a focus on aiding children.

The beekeeper program is particularly important and close to my heart with this program, and as soon as I saw it, I knew that I wanted to do something to help the project.

Bees are hugely important to our ecosystem, and honeybees in particular are facing some serious problems and may not survive into the future. Bees touch almost every part of our daily lives, even though we may not realize it. They pollinate the fruits and vegetables we eat, they provided Earth's first humans with some of their first forms of sugar, they continuously create a world we want to live in. We can't let them die out.

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World Vision works with developing nations, identifying families who need help. They don't just give money--they help families find ways to support themselves. The beekeeper program is one such way. World Vision works to find families that are struggling and have limited access to jobs outside the home--families where the main breadwinner is handicapped, or where single mothers cannot leave the home to earn money. Bees become a wonderful source of income for these people--they can stay close to their families at home while still producing honey they can sell and generate income from, as well as benefitting the entire community's crop with bees that help the ecosystem to thrive.

While purchasing bees for struggling families may seem like a bit odd of a charity, I hope you can understand just how life-changing it could be for a family who needs them. This article describes a family whose lives were changed by the added income and security from maintaining beehives--and it will touch your heart.

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If you would like to donate to World Vision's beekeeping program directly, click here. 

And remember, every sale of The Body Electric from now until December 31, 2014, will generate $1 donation toward the production of more beehives across the world, specifically to aid people in need.

To get this project started, I pledge to donate one beehive today--regardless of sales.