Happiness is helping others
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“It helps others,” and “it makes a difference,” were the responses from nearly half of the 64 people who completed the sentence, “Donating makes me happy because…” as part of a raffle drawing at the Philanthropy Booth at the recent L&C Wellness Fair.
“Happiness is an important part of wellness, and we believe philanthropic people are happy people,” said Sharon Bosserman-Benson, director of planned giving in the Office of Institutional Advancement, who helped staff the booth. “This exercise showed that happiness is helping people and making a difference, both of which can be achieved by charitable giving,” she said.
Participants wrote why donating makes them happy and offered the name of their favorite charity in order to enter a raffle drawing. The prize was $25 cash donated to their favorite charity. A second prize of $25 was donated by Mandy Alperin because she was so inspired by the exercise.
More than 40 names of charities were cited. Two on-campus program were the winners: The Romeo Dallaire Scholarship Fund, entered by Mary Kitchel, and the College Outdoors Program, entered by Moira Domann.
Other reasons cited why donating makes people happy included “because…” “it feels good,” “giving to others who need support as I once did,” “helping students reach their goals,” “feel like I’m doing my part,” “fortunate to be in a position to give to others less fortunate,” and “children’s smiles are priceless.”
The Philanthropy Booth was sponsored by the Office of Institutional Advancement. For more information, contact Sharon Bosserman-Benson at sharon@lclark.edu or x7911.
Submitted by Director of Planned Giving Sharon Bosserman-Benson
