In 2010, Project Sunshine quickly found that growing sunflowers brought out the best in local people as much as it helped beautify parts of the community. Children became recognised as leaders and sunflowers became a catalyst for all sorts of things, including the development of a connection with a local beekeeper, Al Kilminster.
Al was keen to work with the Taita community in establishing a local beekeeping group. ProjectSunshine linked Al with the gardening club kids and soon the children were learning about the importance of bees, and their current plight. The children also realised that sunflower planting could help other children to make their communities beautiful too, while building connections between people and bees to help ensure the survival of the bee population. As a result, the BrightSpot campaign has turned into Project Sunshine and in 2011 it went national.

Read more: Great start project sunshine – Sharing the Love with NZ

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