Happiness & Charity

Elena, Scrapbook Royalty's Founder, recently sent out an email asking for volunteers to help Scrapbook Royalty keep doing our charitable work through our love of scrapbooking and papercrafts. Last night, I was reading my trusty Reader's Digest in bed and happened upon an article about happiness (Pg 163 of the July 2008 issue). You can read the article online HERE.

The author found five things in life that can predict people's happiness. Source #4 = Charity.

Here are some excerpts from the story that I found particularly interesting:

"We’ve all heard that money doesn’t buy happiness, and that’s certainly true. But there is one way to get it: Give money away.

The evidence is clear that gifts to charitable organizations and other worthy causes bring substantial life satisfaction to the givers. If you want $50 in authentic happiness today, just donate it to a favorite charity.

People who give money to charity are 43 percent more likely than nongivers to say they’re very happy. Volunteers are 42 percent more likely to be very happy than nonvolunteers. It doesn’t matter whether the gifts of money go to churches or symphony orchestras; religious giving and secular giving leave people equally happy, and far happier than people who don’t give. Even donating blood, an especially personal kind of giving, improves our attitude.

In essence, the more people give, the happier they get."

How fitting?! Elena, myself, and the SBR committee, as well as anyone who volunteers and/or donates are really familiar with the joy we get from giving our time, money, and hearts to help others. It really is a source of happiness for us! If you want to know how to get happy by volunteering or giving, please leave a comment here or contact us through our website. And thanks again to everyone who has given and continues to give to help us help others. It's all about the charity here!