Thanks to a generous donation from Mary McGrath and Nick Allen of a G3 iBook, and software donated by Eva Markiewicz, Spencer Ahrens and Katy Harrison, Beehive School will be getting a new computer! We have installed Mac OS X 10.3, added lots of educational children’s games including Zoombinis, Kid Pix, Mia’s Math House and Reader Rabbit. It will hopefully reach Beehive School in November. A picture is below.

*If you have a working laptop that you don’t use, please consider donating it to us, it will be very appreciated at Beehive School!

Niall Dorey received a letter today from the Lands Dept offering Beehive School a nice biggish plot of land for the school! This comes after many applications, fees, and frustration, and we are very excited to finally have a place to build the school!!!

There are other ways you can help Beehive! One of the easiest ways is to go to

http://beta.razoo.com/causes/beehiveschool

before September 15 and sign up making Beehive your cause. Then you should vote for Beehive because that way we will have a chance at winning $10,000! It’s free and easy to sign up and if we win, would give Beehive a serious step in the right direction.

Another way to help if you want to get more involved is offer to post fliers around your neighborhood, school, office, local coffee shops, or other public venues. You can contact us at <info AT beehiveschool.com> for fliers and further information.

If you would like to pursue a role of even greater involvement then please contact us at <info AT beehiveschool.com>. There is plenty of work to do and we appreciate anyone who wants to get involved. We are 100% volunteer! So we need your help to make Beehive as strong as possible!

We have finally worked out an agreement with A Self-Help Assistance Program (ASAP Africa) who will work as our ‘pass-through’ so that we can receive tax-deductible donations. ASAP Africa is a non-profit that works in rural communities in Africa to help individuals, families and communities become more self-reliant and prosperous. We have set up an agreement with them where people can donate money to through them to Beehive School. ASAP Africa will deal with the taxes and other issues of being non-profit, will take a small percentage of the donation, and gives the rest of the money to Beehive School.

Donate now

And we’re online! Finally – after a summer of looking for “pass through” organizations, writing proposals, and fervently checking our e-mails it has happened. Ladies and gentlemen, Beehive is ready to accept donations! ASAP, our ‘pass through’ organization has graciously accepted to partner with us. We were trying to decide between between a couple “pass through” organizations, but ASAP looked best as they have been involved with non-profit work in Zimbabwe for the past eight years and are currently starting up a project in non other than…dun dun dun…Mzuzu, Malawi! So, for that reason, we felt they were the ideal pass through. All donations shall be sent to them and managed by them. You can learn more about the work ASAP does here:    http://www.asapafrica.org/

Special thanks to Katy for all her hard work improving the website, maintaining it, and getting down to the nitty gritty to work out all the kinks. She’s amazing!

But most of all – let’s never forget who really makes Beehive, Beehive – Niall Dorey.

Niall has been working hard this summer (their winter season), not only to keep the school moving smoothly, training new teachers, and improving the curriculum, but also working hard to get the land grant, which is so critical to the construction of the new school. It seems that no matter where you go – you will find red tape – and Niall has found his share of it as he tries to get a piece of land that will meet the needs of the future Beehive School. Let’s all give our warm support to Niall – let him know we’ve all got our fingers crossed for him – if you want to send him good wishes, his e-mail is on the site, so send him your encouragements.

Another thanks goes to the Rotary Club of Palo Alto and Woodside for their invaluable advice and continued support through the entire process. Their advice has been very much appreciated – particularly in these initial steps into unfamiliar ground of getting non-profit status and forming a strong organization.

Another thanks to the lovely Flor Cassassuce, who is dedicating her life to really changing the world for the poor. To learn more about Flor’s work internationally, please  read here.

Flor has recently won a competitive $100,000 grant from the World Bank, which she is using to disseminate the Ultra Violet Disinfection Technology in a form that is form that is appropriate for developing countries. Flor has many future plans to improve the standard of living in developing countries.

A very special thanks goes out to Niall’s parents in England who have been unfailing in their efforts to send us needed information and maintain communication through the weeks and even months that internet has been virtually non-existent in Niall’s home. Whether it’s shipping cd’s of pictures across the country or scouring our website for those annoying typos – they have been passionately and lovingly involved.