About Us: Carly and Molly ages 20 and 18, launched “Hives for Lives” nine years ago after their grandfather died of throat cancer. After this loss, Molly and Carly decided they wanted to honor his memory by raising money to find a cure. Instead of pursuing the typical lemonade stand or garage sale, the girls set out to create a sustainable, scalable business whose on-going profits would be donated to finding a cure for cancer. “We wanted to do something to remember him and to make sure others would not get sick and die like he did,” they said. Molly and Carly, co-CEOs of the business harvest honey from hives at the end of the summer, and then spin, filter, bottle, and label it by hand. They also make lip balm and candles from beeswax. To sell their products, Molly and Carly call on hospital gift shops, food stores, kitchen shops, and other retail outlets; take orders on a website ( www.hivesforlives.com); and spend many weekends at local fairs and markets. Their jobs also include recruiting volunteers (called “Helper Bees”), preparing business presentations, meeting with suppliers, and speaking at schools, conventions, churches, seminars and hospitals. Among many other engagements, they have spoken at the Green Festival in DC; the Whole Foods Pow Wow and Vision Day in Texas, DC, and NY; in Boulder, CO for the LOHAS conference; and in San Francisco at the Young President's Organization. The girls and the Helper Bees have raise over $200,000 towards a cure to date.
“Hives for Lives will go on as long as there is cancer,” said Molly. “I hope every year the business will grow until there is a cure,” added Carly. In addition to attending to the business, Carly runs a Hives for Lives Young Business Leaders Club at their school and works a Junior Docent at the Elmwood Park Zoo, advocating for animals. Molly is a junior at Yale University this fall. When they are not in their hives or up to their elbows in honey, Molly and Carly enjoy soccer, reading, singing, softball, crew, drama, art, flute and guitar.
Molly and Carly’s efforts have garnered them the 2007 middle school and high school Prudential Spirit of the Community Awards as the top youth volunteers in the state of Pennsylvania, and the President's Volunteer Service Award from President Bush. They have also been honored with the American Cancer Society's Project Award and the TA Barron Prize for Young Heroes for their environmental contributions. They served as 2 of 100 youth under 30 for the ServiceNation Summit in NYC. They have recently received the 2009 Guardian Life Girl's Going Places Award for entrepreneurism and were a Semi-Finalist in the Build a Bear Huggable Heroes competition. They also have been honored as youth recipients of the 2010 Caring Award. Most recently, Carly was recognized as a Kohl's Kids Who Care Scholar and a Coke Future Flame and as an Ashoka Youth Ambassador, and Molly as a Coca Cola Scholar.
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