Randy German discovered his love for beekeeping during his battle with cancer that ended January 14th, 2021. He had an amazing, gentle spirit that the bees recognized. He called his bees his “babies” and he nurtured them by planting numerous pollinator friendly trees, flowers and vegetables around his backyard apiary. Throughout his battle with chemotherapy, at the forefront of his thoughts were his bees and he would text his fellow beekeepers to check on his bees when he was not able to.

During one of the hottest days of the summer during the inaugural year of Mo Hives KC, Randy volunteered inspecting, feeding, and offering his mechanical expertise in making adjustments to the bee habitat.  Randy spent a long day volunteering in the heat without any sign of the internal battles that he was fighting within his body. When the other beekeepers were covered in angry bees that day, Randy would not have a bee on him as if the bees sensed his battle and accepted him as part of their colony.

This annual legacy award will be gifted to a beginner beekeeper who has exhibited a nurturing spirit toward saving pollinators and preserving nature’s habitat. The Legacy Award recipient will be given a bee hive in Randy’s honor.