It’s common knowledge that helping others makes us feel good. Research suggests that it also offers health benefits
In the book, The Healing Power of Doing Good, Alan Luks and Peggy Payne set out to show how one’s physical health improves along with emotional well-being when we volunteer. They theorize about what they call the “helpers high,” similar to what runners feel when endorphins are released. One of my favorite ways to give back is through Operation Christmas Child [OCC].
Samaritan’s Purse International Relief is a non-profit organization that provides emergency relief all over the world to victims of disease, war, natural disaster and famine. Operation Christmas Child has been distributing gift filled shoe boxes to underprivileged children in over 130 countries for nearly 2 decades.
Samaritan’s Purse was named one of CNBC’s top 10 charities changing the world in 2015!
It’s really fun to put the shoe boxes together, takes very little money, and truly means a lot to the children.
Your shoe box will bring more joy than you could imagine
Get crackin’ on your boxes, national shoe box collection week is coming up: November 16 – 23. Visit their website, choose a gender and age group and fill a shoe box. They have instructions on their site with a list of suggestions on what to put in the boxes, things like small toys, markers, note pads, candy, even a toothbrush; or you can order materials.
They make it easy, all you do is pack the shoe box and take it to a local drop off station and they send them off. You can also make a direct donation or build a box on their site.
Doing charitable work helps kids become caring well-rounded individuals, particularly in the world we live in. They must be absorbing the message, one afternoon a few summers ago, my boys set up a stand to collect donations for The Children’s Hospital, then they went through their toys picking out things to donate to homeless kids – all on their own accord! It was a proud parental momemt. And it certainly was a nice change of pace form the usual, “can we have this… can we do that!?”
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