Dear Madeline,

  You might try a web search under The Heifer Project. They provide
livestock as well as bee equipment to get families started in an
agricultural endeavor to support their families. One of the things I really
like about them is that they require a recipient family to help someone
else once they themselves are established - an example would be a family
with a grown heifer would pass on a calf. I imagine that a beekeeper
recipient would start a nuc for someone else.

  I heard about them through my local bee group. We voted to support the
project with a donation (as did my family). For $30 US they can supply a
family with a hive. We all had a good laugh at the bee group - we wish it
only cost us $30 in equipment and bees to get a hive started here in the
US!!

                                Chris Ignasiak from Ohio