So, you would like to know more about the bumblebee logo? Please grab a cup of tea with honey and we'll tell you all about it.

As you know, bees are very social, and LiveWorkPlay is all about social relationships and community-building. Our organization is like a hive of purposeful activity with everyone making a meaningful contribution.

There is an old myth about bumblebees. As the story goes, scientists who once studied bees concluded that they should not be able to fly - that their flight defies gravity.

This is a bit like the myth that people with intellectual disabilities should not be able to live in the community with the same rights and responsibilities as other citizens. Given the chance, the bee just goes ahead and flies. Just like people with intellectual disabilities just go ahead and live!

Bumblebees have a unique ability to make a buzz wherever they go, just like LiveWorkPlay is known for making a buzz with our exciting events, cutting-edge philosophies, and willingness to take risks to help people with intellectual disabilities enjoy a good life. In fact, we used to produce a print newsletter called The Buzz!

We came up with a bee logo for the very first time back in the 1990s when we were operating a thrift store as a training opportunity for young adults with intellectual disabilities. The store was called the Bronson Community Thrift Centre. This was a very long name, and people were soon calling it the BCTC. This wasn't a very friendly name and somehow it got nicknamed as the "bizzy tizzy."

The employees in the store decided they should have uniforms so customers could figure out who to ask for help. But they wanted some sort of a logo to go with the name.

President Julie Kingstone was experimenting with logos on her computer art program, and she drew a bumblebee that everyone thought was really cute!  So we had some shirts made with Bizzy Tizzy and the bumblebee.

People liked it so much that parents and participants who were not involved with the Bizzy Tizzy wanted shirts with the bumblebee too! We tried putting "LWP" in the belly of the bumblebee to see if that would make a good logo for the organization itself. People liked it!

The original bumblebee got an upgrade in 2008 (and many new versions were created - bee wearing a hat, bee on a skateboard, bee playing chess, etc) with the launch of the latest version of the LiveWorkPlay website.

And that's how the bee(s) that you see now came to bee! Um, be.

In 2011, we think of our bee logo more as a symbol than a logo - a symbol that stands for freedom and community.