What this is
A civic storytelling platform, from pollinator health to the people growing what comes next.
Bee The Difference is an independent, nonpartisan civic storytelling platform that traces how pollinator health, water, soil, and food security actually connect, and points readers toward the people doing the work.
The directory features Help Save the Bees Foundation, Soulful Seeds, the Northern Nevada Food Council, Bees4Vets, Reno Food Systems, Urban Roots, River School Farm, the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, UNR’s Desert Farming Initiative, Bee Friendly Nevada, and many more. Each shows up the same way: name, role, a short profile, and a path back to their own work.
See the full list in the directory.
The editorial position
The most powerful action is a personal choice.
Habitat over sterile lawn. Native plants over exotic ornamentals. No pesticides. Water wisdom in a region where every drop is a decision. The choices residents make in their own yards, on their own blocks, with their own kids, add up faster than most people expect.
Donations matter. Volunteering matters. Showing up to a planting day matters. None of those is the headline. The headline is the daily, ordinary choice that protects pollinators, water, soil, and access at the same time. This site is built around that idea.
To make it concrete, every visitor gets six entry points. Pick the one that fits your week.
Founder
Joseph Schmitt
Joseph Schmitt is the founder and director of Bee The Difference and XPDSHN, Inc., a 501(c)(3) Private Foundation. He serves as president of the Help Save the Bees Foundation, sits on the boards of the Northern Nevada Food Council and Soulful Seeds, and on the City of Reno Financial Advisory Board. A CPA and Certified Internal Auditor, he previously served as Chief Financial Officer of the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System and as a Senior Internal Auditor for the Veterans Health Administration. He is the author of arc of HUMANITY: 52 Weeks to Clarity, Agency & Scale, published in 2025.
What comes next
The work expands from here.
New organizations, new sources, new pathways, and new stories will land on this site as the regional movement keeps building. The simplest way to follow the work is the newsletter.
Home means Nevada
Where this comes from.
Nevada’s state song, written by Bertha Raffetto in 1933, ends with a line that sums up everything Bee The Difference is about.
Way out in the land of the setting sun,
Where the wind blows wild and free,
There’s a lovely spot, just the only one
That means home sweet home to me.Home means Nevada, home means the hills,
Home means the sage and the pine.
We’re starting here. Nevada is where the movement begins. The work scales beyond.