The North Lawndale Employment Network and Sweet Beginnings, LLC are pleased to present an educational fundraiser event sponsored by the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance: the Chicago premiere of the groundbreaking documentary, “Vanishing of the Bees”.

Honey bees have recently been disappearing all across the world at an alarming rate. This phenomenon, known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), has been haunting beekeepers across the U.S. where the population of seemingly healthy bee hives vanish overnight without a trace.

Commercial honey bee operations pollinate crops that provide us with a third of the food we eat. These types of beekeeping operations, which are worth over $15 billion annually, will not survive if we continue to lose bees at such high rates.

Filmed in the U.S. and around the world, this grassroots documentary examines the alarming disappearance of honeybees and the greater meaning it holds for humans and their relationship with the planet. This comprehensive film covers topics such as honey bee health, industrial beekeeping methods, the pollination of monoculture crops, and the effects of systemic pesticides.

This event includes a reception with light hors d’oeuvres, a pre-film panel discussion, the film screening, and a post-film Q&A session. Our discussion panel includes John Hansen, Head Beekeeper of Sweet Beginnings and Past-President of the Illinois State Beekeepers Association, Julio Tuma, Beekeeper of the Garfield Park Conservatory, and others.

This event is family and children friendly and is a great way to learn about bees, where our food comes from, the ecosystem, and more.

Click here for more information and to purchase tickets online.

WE EXPECT TO SELL OUT. BUY YOUR TICKET IN ADVANCE!

139 early-stage nonprofits entered the first round of competition and Sweet Beginnings along with 39 others were selected to continue onto round two. All round two entrants received webinar training on growth business planning from staff of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and received personalized feedback on their submitted business plans.

The final and third round of competition involved a presentation at the Social Impact Exchange Annual Conference on Scaling, which included the Business Plan Competition as one of its main events. Brenda Palms-Barber, CEO of Sweet Beginnings, LLC, traveled to New York City to deliver the presentation and participate in the follow up question and answer session. We were pleased to be joined by Sweet Beginnings Board of Managers, Michael Johnson, and our friend and longtime supporter, Ms. Connie Evans, President and CEO of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity.

Thank you to all the individuals who contributed to the development of this business planning process. Your efforts to improve our social enterprise business model are greatly appreciated. We would like to specifically thank Phil Adams, Faye Sinnott, Michael Johnson, Noah Temaner, Vena Nelson, Holley Blackwell, Michael Malecek, Majora Carter and James Chase with the Majora Carter Group, Annette Challenor, Ethan Foster, and Romina Brown. Congratulations to everyone on this commendable achievement.

If you are looking for business plan competitions for start-up capital, consider reading this Wall Street Journal article, “Strategies for Picking, and Winning, Small Business Competitions”. Click here for the article.

We would like to thank everyone for their support and interest in Sweet Beginnings at the Chicago Green Festival. There was a great turnout for the event and a constant stream of customers at our Sweet Beginnings booth.

Sweet Beginnings generated over $2,000 in sales during the two days of the event. We made many new friends and even secured two new vendors for our beeline honey and skin care products. A special thank you to all the staff and volunteers that contributed their time and passion at our booth and, of course, thank you to our customers and supporters that came out and made the event such a success.

Below you can read reflections on this green experience through the eyes of our Sweet Beginnings employees who are integrating green into their urban lifestyles:

“This was my first Green Festival and I was not aware that so many people want to save energy, light, gas, and anything they possibly can. A lot of creative people.”

- LaMorris Patrick

“I did not realize how many people cared about Mother Earth. The festival had employees directing people where to place their cans, bottles, plastics, and paper. I thought that was an excellent way for people to be encouraged to recycle properly.”

- Tiffany Chinn

“The Green Festival was a very important event. I never knew so many people were into it. The ideas that other companies had were wonderful and I loved interacting with so many wonderful people. I loved speaking about Sweet Beginnings’ missions and where we’re located. People love that a company like ours was on the West side of Chicago.”

- Anthony Naylor

“I was amazed by so many innovative businesses that are local. I also enjoyed the experience of meeting people that had respectable positions in various organizations.”

- Kelvin Greenwood

“My experience at the Green Festival was good and also very interesting because I was able to identify how many people are into being green, getting green, or whatever the case may be. Also, I was able to communicate with a lot of creative, important, and interesting people that allowed me to advance my professionalism and people skills.”

- Orieal Williams

“Immediately smooth and truly impressive. And the moisture lasts a long time. Really, really a first class lip balm” -Balm Diggity

Beeline lip balm and all of the beeline skincare products will be available for purchase at the Chicago Green Festival this weekend.  The Green Festival will be taking place at Navy Pier on Saturday, May 22nd from 10am-7pm and Sunday, May 23rd from 11am-6pm. Sweet Beginnings will be occupying booth 510 in the Organic Health & Beauty section of the main exhibition hall.

Click here to view the embedded video.

BuzzFlash.com, celebrating its 10th anniversary this May of 2010, is the only progressive news and commentary website whose progressive marketplace nurtures an alternative, sustainable, economically and socially just consumer economy while funding progressive journalism.

To read the BuzzFlash article by Meg White, click here.

Brenda Palms-Barber is also featured in Grist.org’s “40 People Who are Redefining Green”. Check out this story and the other 39 green individuals online here.

Grist.org is the online version of Grist Magazine, which delivers environmental news and commentary and helps readers make sense of today’s “green” headlines. Visit Grist Magazine online here.

The bees from our five hives that survived through the winter have awoken from their slumber and are actively foraging for nectar and pollen during the spring bloom.  To see pictures of our spring bee installation please visit our Facebook page here.

“The North Lawndale Employment Network (NLEN) will hold its Fifth Annual Sweet Beginnings Tea on Friday, February 12, 2010 at the Park Hyatt Hotel. The Honorable Mayor Richard M. Daley is the honorary chair. Scott Baskin, president of Mark Shale boutiques, will provide the keynote remarks….” view news release

Click here to view the embedded video.