College-Bound Girl Scout Starts Nonprofit to Save the Bees

Jul 20, 2017 1:20 PM ET

College-Bound Girl Scout Starts Nonprofit to Save the Bees

Two years ago, Elizabeth Klosky was brainstorming ideas with her father on what to do for her Girl Scouts Gold Award project when she had the idea to do something to protect bees. She and her father had just begun to keep bees in the yard, but when she realized how important they were to the environment – and that certain bee populations around the world were struggling – she wanted to help.

Initially, her idea was to go to events focused on nature and environmental issues, reach out to people there and set up a few native bee houses.

“It ended up getting a lot bigger than that,” said Elizabeth.

She ended up presenting at a lot more events, setting up eight native bee houses and reaching more than 8,000 people who supported bee-friendly legislation in New York State through change.org.

Once the Gold Award project was complete, Elizabeth saw how big it had become. With the help of her parents and some “worker bees” (her volunteers), she set off on the path toward turning her project into a nonprofit – New York is a Great Place to Bee.

Read the full story on the Points of Light blog.