It’s no secret that giving back feels good, but a new study contends that perhaps it may be vital to living a happier life — but only if you’re being recognized for your efforts.
Gallup found that individuals who receive recognition for their community service report better well-being scores than those whose good deeds go unnoticed. Volunteers receiving praise scored an average Well-Being Index score of 70 out of 100 in contrast of the average score of 58.5 of those who did not.
But the pattern doesn’t stop there. Age and income have long been associated with higher levels of well-being, and Gallup found that even among affluent and older Americans, community service is a constant among happier people.
U.S. citizens who make less than $36,000 but are recognized for community service reported a higher score than wealthier individuals making more than $90,000 but haven’t received recognition for community service, 67.2 and 62.6, respectively.
Elderly individuals also typically score higher on the Well-Being Index. Older Americans, ages 65 and up who identified as participating in community service efforts, reported the highest scores of happiness. However, younger Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 — who’ve been given a shout-out for their volunteer efforts — received the second highest score of well-being, outperforming older age groups.
The survey also discovered a link between community service and reduced levels of stress. Only around 34 percent of respondents who are recognized for giving back said they experience stress in contrast to 42 percent of those who are not. And only 25 percent of active volunteers reported experiencing worry compared to 32 percent of those who are not involved or recognized for their efforts.
But perhaps more interestingly, around two-thirds of respondents contend they have not received recognition for community service, which underscores a greater need to illuminate the social good going on across the country.
Giving back feels great, and it’s time to start promoting that message.
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Tag: Gallup
Cycling Tourism Has the Potential to Transform This Hardscrabble New Mexico Town
While Gallup, New Mexico is known as the “Heart of Indian Country” because of the many nearby reservations and its sizable presence of Native Americans (who comprise 76 percent of Gallup’s McKinley County), that wasn’t always the case.
Back in the 1970s and 80s, Gallup became notorious for something else: The fact that, each year, police put 30,000 people in the drunk tank. Many of those arrested were Native Americans who flocked to Gallup since it was one of the nearest places where they could purchase alcohol, Jonathan Thompson writes for the High Country News.
But now a group of entrepreneurs, Gallup boosters, and outdoor enthusiasts are working to make the town famous for something much better (and undoubtedly, much healthier) — mountain biking.
Chuck Van Drunen, who lived near a vacant lot known as the Brickyard, contributed to the bike-centered transformation of this gritty town. Until 1960, the Brickyard held kilns for brick-making, but after that, it became a neglected piece of property where drunkards and transients hung out. Van Drunen tired of booze-addled people wandering in the alley behind his house, so he started leading bicycle trail rides over the Brickyard.
It caught on, and Gallup’s mayor Jackie McKinney convinced the owners of the Brickyard to donate or sell the land to the city. Community members hired a bike park designer to plan proper trails and enlisted the Youth Conservation Corps to clean things up. In September, the Gallup Brickyard Bike Park officially opened.
Thompson writes, “Over the last 15 years, local bike-advocates have built and designated dozens of miles of trails in the nearby desert and forests and spiffed up the old downtown.”
Various bike enthusiasts formed the nonprofit Gallup Trails 2010, working to establish trails throughout Gallup and the nearby Zuni mountains. And while no one thinks Gallup is on track to become the next Moab — Utah’s mountain biking mecca — the town now hosts mountain biking races and is beginning to attract outdoor adventure tourists.
Does the enthusiasm for mountain biking have the ability to turn around Gallup’s tough economic situation? Currently, more than a third of McKinley County’s population live below the poverty line, and its unemployment rate sits at 8.5 percent, substantially higher than New Mexico’s overall rate of 6.8 percent. Still, the bike trails and cycling-centered tourism promotion seem to be moving the city in the right direction.
Lindsay Mapes, the owner of Zia Rides, a Gallup bike-race promoter, said that when she used to tell people where she lived, she’d get a pitying or disgusted “Gallup Look.” “Now it’s like: ‘Oh, yeah, I love it there. The trails are great!’ I love it when I see locals interacting with someone in the outdoor community, boasting about the assets we have. There’s a lot of community pride.”
“Sometimes, I see it as a revolution,” she said. “This group is really using the bike as an agent of change.”
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