How This Futuristic Beehive is Helping Rebuild Vanuatu

Flow Hive, the futuristic beehive that is taking 90 percent of the labor out of beekeeping, and saving honeybees in the process, recently set its sights on saving a new group in danger - the citizens of Vanuatu. The small island nation was recently ravaged by Cyclone Pam, and in 24 hours, the Flow Hive inventors managed to raise nearly $100,000 for rebuilding efforts.

How the heck did they pull this off? It's important to remember that Flow Hive has been something of a crowdfunding miracle. Asking for a modest target goal of $70,000 to get things started in its own Indigogo campaign, the invention has reached that target 110 times over, with nearly 20,000 experts and amateur beekeepers alike backing the project.

If you're unfamiliar with what Flow Hive is, be sure to check out NWN's in-depth look at the product and campaign here.

In a past statement, inventor and third generation beekeeper Cedar Anderson, 34, said he had been utterly "overwhelmed" by the success and support for Flow Hive. Now he and his father Stuart, the co-inventor of the hive, hope to share a bit of their good fortune with a world in need.

Two weeks ago, a Category 5 tropical cyclone smashed into the small island nation of Vanuatu, killing 16 (as of March 20), and leaving an additional 166,000 people with severe injuries. More than 65,000 people were left homeless in the wake of the disaster, after gusts clocking in at about 200 mph (320 kph) tore their way though the poor nation's small villages.

"The people affected by Tropical Cyclone Pam face serious immediate risks to their health and wellbeing, as well as threats to their livelihoods and future resilience to disasters," the United Nations' (UN) humanitarian coordinator for the archipelagic nation, Osnat Lubrani, announced days later. "Today we stand with the Government of Vanuatu and urgently seek the support of the international community at a time of immense need."

That support came from a great many nations and humanitarian funds, with supplies from the World Food Programme (WFP) having already arrived to all 22 storm-affected islands in the country. (Scroll to read on...)

Still, there's much that remains undone, with the WFP alone asking for an additional $8.3 million to keep supplies moving. Meanwhile, most affected citizens still remain homeless.

That's why it's heartening to see even small projects like Flow Hive supporting the cause. The Andersons had planned to raise a modest $20,000 towards the effort, offering the first release of their revolutionary "honey on tap" frame to a lucky raffle winner last Wednesday. By midnight, the raffle had raised a whopping $97,300 - every cent of which will be going towards rebuilding efforts headed by social-justice group Oxfam Australia.

Oxfam's Executive Director Helen Szoke added in an emailed statement that this will make for the largest single donation the effort has seen so far.

"The money that Flow^TM has raised will go to providing immediate relief to people in the aftermath of Cylone Pam and helping them to recover and rebuild," she said.

Stuart added that, for him, this was an even more exciting fundraiser than the Indigogo campaign.

"It's so heartening to feel people's generosity and care," he said.

Still, it should be noted that Flow Hive's contribution is but a drop in the bucket of what the small island nation still needs. A UN Flash Appeal, launched in Port Vila on 24 March, seeks $29.9 million to cover the needs of all 166,000 cyclone-affected people for three months - time just enough, as Cedar puts it, for these people to get back on their feet.

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