<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.MsoAcetate, li.MsoAcetate, div.MsoAcetate
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:8.0pt;
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";}
p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph
{mso-style-priority:34;
margin-top:0in;
margin-right:0in;
margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
span.BalloonTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Balloon Text";
font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";}
span.EmailStyle20
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;
font-weight:normal;
font-style:normal;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style></head><body lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><img width="192" height="60" id="Picture_x0020_7" src="cid:image001.jpg@01D34F1F.D39193F0" alt="Pollinator_notag"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Help Save The Bees of the Caribbean!</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Please help the pollinators on Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands today. GoFundMe link to Fund for Puerto Rico’s Pollinators:</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><a href="https://www.gofundme.com/fund-for-puerto-rico039s-pollinators">https://www.gofundme.com/fund-for-puerto-rico039s-pollinators</a> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">DOUBLE YOUR CONTRIBUTION! BLUE DIAMOND GROWERS HAS GENEROUSLY PLEDGED TO MATCH THE NEXT $5,000 IN DONATIONS.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Our growing campaign is taking action to help pollinators on the Caribbean islands recover. <b>We are pleased to report that the first relief supplies have already reached the islands and are being distributed to beekeepers! </b>But we need your help to achieve our goals. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">This Campaign seeks to:</span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-.25in">1.<span style="font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Provide immediate relief and support for PR and USVI beekeepers.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-.25in">2.<span style="font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Raise funds and deliver supplemental protein for 3,000 hives and 1,000 replacement hives over the next six months<span style="color:#1f497d"> </span>while the ecosystems and floral resources recover. </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-.25in">3.<span style="font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Help strengthen beekeeping and pollination services on the islands.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-.25in">4.<span style="font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Assess the impacts of the hurricanes on the islands’ other pollinating species to determine how help can be provided. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">BACKGROUND</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Hurricanes have devastated Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands (USVI), crippling infrastructure, along with access to electricity, water, and other basic necessities. Agriculture was decimated, too. Cropland, family farms, and food systems were largely destroyed, and nearly $780 million in crop losses have been recorded so far on Puerto Rico alone. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Bees on Puerto Rico and the USVI have been hit just as hard.</span></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The islands’ beekeepers are essential to local agriculture and specialty crops on the islands. On Puerto Rico, fewer than 150 beekeepers provide 7% of the honey consumed on the island, and these men and women maintain an estimated 4,000 domestic hives. On the USVI about a dozen beekeepers manage about 800 hives. From pineapples to coffee to countless fruits and vegetables, honeybees and other pollinators are the key to the recovery of agriculture on the islands.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Surviving bees are in danger of starving. </span></i></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Recent hurricanes stripped the islands of their floral resources, effectively denying that critical nutritional resource to these "natural farmers." </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Beekeepers are trying to keep their bees alive in the short term by providing sugar water; but without a floral resource to provide essential proteins through pollen, surviving colonies are at risk of collapsing. Commercially produced protein sources used by beekeepers in the continental U.S. are unavailable on the islands. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The hurricanes not only resulted in colony losses of up to 80% but also destroyed most of the Langstroth wooden hives used by beekeepers to house their bees. Bees that survived the destruction of their hives have swarmed, taking up residence in people’s homes and other structures, creating health and safety concerns. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Beekeepers are working hard to recover, but are in desperate need of our help to secure supplemental protein sources and replacement Langstroth hives to house their bees. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">For additional information, contact Val Dolcini at <a href="mailto:vdolcini@pollinator.org">vdolcini@pollinator.org</a> or Tom Van Arsdall at <a href="mailto:tva@pollinator.org">tva@pollinator.org</a>.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><a href="https://www.gofundme.com/fund-for-puerto-rico039s-pollinators">https://www.gofundme.com/fund-for-puerto-rico039s-pollinators</a> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Thank you! </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Kelly Rourke</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Program Coordinator</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Pollinator Partnership </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">423 Washington Street, 5th Floor</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">San Francisco, CA 94111</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">e: </span><a href="mailto:kr@pollinator.org"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue">kr@pollinator.org</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">w: </span><a href="http://www.pollinator.org"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue">www.pollinator.org</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">p: 415.362.1137</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/ThePollinatorPartnership"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1155cc;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="40" height="40" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image002.jpg@01D34F1F.D39193F0" alt="cid:image002.jpg@01D1AB75.BF85B7F0"></span></a><a href="http://twitter.com/Pollinators"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1155cc;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="40" height="40" id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image003.jpg@01D34F1F.D39193F0" alt="cid:image003.jpg@01D1AB75.BF85B7F0"></span></a><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+PollinatorOrg/about"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1155cc;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="40" height="40" id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image004.jpg@01D34F1F.D39193F0" alt="cid:image004.jpg@01D1AB75.BF85B7F0"></span></a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/PollinatorPartners"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1155cc;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="40" height="40" id="Picture_x0020_4" src="cid:image005.jpg@01D34F1F.D39193F0" alt="cid:image005.jpg@01D1AB75.BF85B7F0"></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://pollinator.org/index.html"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1155cc;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="117" height="52" id="Picture_x0020_5" src="cid:image006.jpg@01D34F1F.D39193F0" alt="cid:image006.jpg@01D1AB75.BF85B7F0"></span></a><a href="http://pollinator.org/million-pollinator-garden-challenge.htm"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1155cc;text-decoration:none"><img border="0" width="60" height="60" id="Picture_x0020_6" src="cid:image007.jpg@01D34F1F.D39193F0" alt="cid:image007.jpg@01D1AB75.BF85B7F0"></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div></body></html>