Attention PALCS community, this is not a drill: the beloved Honey Nut Cheerios bee, Buzz has gone missing! It is up to us to help bring him back. Bee populations all over the world have been rapidly declining, including honeybees just like Buzz.

As an attempt to #BringBackTheBees, Cheerios, a General Mills brand, is partnering with Veseys Seeds to give away 100 million wildflower seeds for people to plant around their communities. Visit the Cheerios website to sign up for your very own pack of free wildflower seeds and get planting!

According to PA Leadership’s High School Science teacher, Ms. Kay Hollenbach, “plants rely on bees to help spread their pollen. The flowers then use this pollen to make a seed and then maybe a fruit or vegetable that we eat. So without bees, plants wouldn’t be able to produce the fruits and vegetables we eat.” Ms. Hollenbach continues, “Cheerios is encouraging people to grow some wildflowers in their backyard and make a bee friendly area. Bees are dying off in record numbers due to loss of habitat and pesticide use. Help give bees a safe area to get pollen since they in turn help make some of the food we eat.”

Bees are a very important part of our ecosystem, and General Mills is hoping that by the year 2020, their farms will be the home to thousands of acres of wildflowers that bees and other pollinators can get their nutrients from.

In order to do our part and help bring back Buzz and all of his friends, we need to join in and start planting wildflowers in our own communities. Every seed counts and every helping hand makes a difference!

Today, on the first day of Spring, make sure to visit the Cheerios website to request your free pack of seeds and for tips on how to plant them. Post your planting pictures and show off your wildflowers using the hashtags #BringBackTheBees and #PALCS. Let’s join together as a community to bring Buzz home and give his friends a place to belong, because here at PALCS, we believe that there is a place for everyone to belong!