There are a lot of things that set Sanford apart from other communities, but driving through downtown, it’s easy to spot one of them: our bees. Sanford is an affiliate of Bee City USA, an organization that works with cities and college campuses to protect native bee species, encouraging native plants, reducing pesticide use, and protecting vulnerable populations. In celebration of this partnership, all around our downtown, you can find fiberglass bee sculptures that serve as a visible reminder of our community’s commitment to being good stewards of the environment for these vulnerable species. The most recent of these were unveiled on Wednesday, and will soon decorate the Mann Center for the Arts and Pfizer’s campus on Hawkins Avenue.
Pfizer’s involvement in this effort is worth making special mention of. When we talk about the benefits that our large employers bring to our community, the two we most frequently hold up are the jobs they create and the taxes they pay. These are of course important – they support our residents and our local governments, after all – but they don’t capture the full spectrum of ways these employers are proactively making our community better places to live. We are incredibly fortunate that our industries don’t just see our Sanford and Lee County as places to work and conduct business; they recognize them as communities they are a part of and want to help improve.
Sponsoring a new set of bees is just the latest example of community investment from our industries. The new Pilgrim’s Sanford Agricultural Marketplace bears the name of another large employers whose donation helped make our new farmers market space possible. The new main Lee County Library hosts a maker space funded by Kyowa Kirin. Beyond amenities and beautification, many of our large industries, like Coty, Caterpillar, Pfizer, Astellas, Kyowa Kirin, and many others have made significant contributions to Central Carolina Community College and its programming, helping our residents build the skills they need for a better future.
None of these companies are headquartered in Sanford, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they directed their community betterment efforts towards their home towns where their most senior leadership resides. But instead, they have been, and continue to be, partners dedicated to making Sanford and Lee County better places to live. So, if you happen to see a bee statue as you drive past one of them, know that it’s a lot more than a symbol of environmental conservation; it’s a symbol of local dedication.