Creston beekeeper Jeff Lee received the Leadership Award at the BC Food and Beverage Association’s annual Rise awards in New Westminster, November 28.
A leader in both the provincial honey industry and in his community, Lee co-owns Honey Bee Zen Apiaries Ltd. and Swan Valley Honey with his wife Amanda Goodman Lee. They are the largest producers of local raw honey in southeastern BC.
The Rise awards honour the accomplishments of entrepreneurs in food, beverage, and natural health, and Lee has many to his credit.
An executive member of the BC Honey Producers Association, Lee represents BC on the Canadian Honey Council. He also chairs Fields Forward, a Creston-based society that runs the Kootenay Farms Food Hub, a food processing facility that supports local value-added food production.
Lee has also supported five Ukrainian families displaced by Russia’s invasion of their country to resettle in the Creston area.
“It is flattering,” says Lee. “I appreciate the fact that I am recognized for my continuous service in the honey industry, for my views on trying to support Ukrainian farmer refugees and also with the activity we have with the food hub.”
Lee, who moved to Creston with Goodman Lee after retiring as a journalist with the Vancouver Sun, says his involvement with so many projects stems from the benefits he’s enjoyed through the years.
“I have been the recipient of a lot over the years and it’s my turn to help people in need,” he says.
When the opportunity to sponsor Ukrainian refugees turned up, Lee leapt at it, knowing the families could also make a valuable contribution to the local economy.
“Amanda and I also believe that we should be building local agriculture worker capacity as much as possible rather than relying on temporary foreign workers, something we have done the past,” he says.
They applied for a beekeeper through the Canadian Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel program and are happy that Andrii and Khrystyna Kos both now work fulltime in their business.
“They both have extensive experience in the honey industry,” Lee says, noting that Ukraine is the second-largest honey producer in Europe. “Our business has stabilized and grown considerably with their contributions and we have helped them bring members of their extended family over to Creston as well.”
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