Enhancing the lives of seniors, pollinators, and the land we live on.
The Bria Bee Well Project is an opportunity for seniors and pollinators to thrive together and enrich each other’s lives. Originally developed as a partnership between Bria Communities and Tsawwassen Beekeeper Julia Common, the program intended to enhance the lives of Bria Communities residents, local pollinators and the entire community.
This six-month project offers seniors opportunities to participate in educational sessions led by the beekeeper, hands-on activities related to beekeeping and honeybees, and educational trips to working apiaries. Seniors are immersed in the world of honeybees and pollinators and gain a better understanding of food, agriculture, and the role they can play in sustainability.
Each Bee Well Project activity is purposefully crafted to engage one or more of the Seven Dimensions of Wellness identified by the International Council of Active Aging.
Contact us to learn how you could run the Bee Well Project with seniors in your community.
We’re looking forward to a terrific program in 2025
In 2024, the program’s second year, Bria Communities seniors sponsored four active hives, participated in developing a local apiary at Southlands Tsawwassen, and harvested 120 lbs of honey! They discovered the medicinal properties of honey and honeybee byproducts, hand-rolled beeswax candles, and sold bee-theme products and crafts to raise funds for low-income seniors in their community.
Do you know how seniors are often invisible in our society? Honeybees are often invisible in operation as well. And yet the bees are vital, and so are our elders.
Julia Common, Bee Well Project Beekeeper
BEE WELL PROJECT GOALS
- Educate seniors about honeybee and pollinator health and sustainability
- Connect seniors to the land on which the pollinators live and feed and the food they produce.
- Enhancement of pollinator habitat of the local communities surrounding retirement residences.
- Improve health and wellness in seniors by engaging in the ICAA’s seven dimensions of wellness and with emphasis on environmental wellness.