Foundation wins Golden Bee Award with help from buzzy kids of Maleny Primary School

There’s nothing like a bunch of bubbly primary schoolers to warm the cockles of an old man’s heart that’s beat some 35,322,032,000 times. So says local identity Dr Max Whitten, Chairman of the Wheen Bee Foundation.

That’s his typically-scientific and upbeat reaction after visiting the Maleny State School to see the youngsters’ work on planting bee-friendly shrubs to support pollinators for their vegetable garden.

It was one of many projects that earned his Foundation the Golden Bee Award from the Slovenian Government on 20 May, World Bee Day, an annual event pioneered by the bee-loving nation.

Max is better known locally for helping create the Maleny Golf Course and for taking on the ladies in the cooking section of the Maleny Show. But his life’s work has been around biodiversity and farmer sustainability, with a long-term interest in bees and pollination services. Wearing his Chairman’s hat, Max visited the State School to check out the kid’s outdoor nature activities.

The Maleny State Primary School was an active participant in two of the Foundation’s programs, “Powerful Pollinators” and Carman’s “Trees for Bees” that earned the Golden Bee Award. The school was one of 21 successful community grants in 2023 from the Carman’s program; and the children were eager to show the wonderful progress with their bee friends.

Not content to rest on their laurels, and supported by their teacher, Lou Walsh, still showing unbounded enthusiasm after 35 years educating Malenyites, the kids have secured a Woolworth’s Landcare grant to build on their early successes.

The Foundation’s CEO, Fiona Chambers (right), happily accepted the Award ceremony in Ljubljana, Slovenia from President of Slovenia Nataša Pirc Musar (centre) and the Agriculture Minister of Slovenia Mateja Čalušić.