Proof at last: Giving to charity is good for your health
Last few places remain to witness new Lodge’s consecration
August 12, 2023Chapters go above and beyond in support of the #Lincs2025 Festival
September 4, 2023
There’s evidence that giving to charity is good for your health – a fact revealed to Lincolnshire’s Lodge Liaison Officers at their annual meeting by Provincial Charity Steward Pete Tong.
He cited research from Elizabeth Dunn, a psychology professor of the University of British Columbia, and published by news agency Reuters. She said: ‘People who give money to charity tend to be happier and also healthier than others. People who donate to charity have lower blood pressure, even when controlling for factors like income, wealth, age, and exercise, which suggests the giving itself, is responsible.’
She had measured people’s blood pressure before and after giving, and found it fell when people gave significantly to other people or causes, but did not change when they spent money on themselves.
However, the extent to which people feel connected to the cause is very important, with more of an effect when people feel personally connected to the cause to which they are giving.
Pete said: “Professor Dunn’s last comment is the most important, and that is why it is vital we let our brethren know what is being done with the money they donate to charity in general, and to Lincolnshire’s 2025 Festival in support of the Masonic Charitable Foundation.
“They need to know, and indeed have a right to know what is being done with the money they so generously give. It is wrong to continually press the message, ‘you must donate’ or ‘take out a direct debit’ – it is far more important to tell them that their money given to the Festival supports the 24-year-old young woman dying of cancer; that their donations will help support a parent whose son has just committed suicide; that their money will help a young boy turn from a life of crime to one of starting to lead a responsible life, a life which, with professional support funded by Freemasons, will create for him a distinct and realistic hope for the future.
“This is the message we, as senior Freemasons, need to get across to the brethren. In September we start another Masonic year and we will be increasing that message to Lodge Charity Stewards and we will be sending you the same information so that you, the Lodge Liaison Officers, can support the Charity Stewards in getting that message across.
“They are already given details of how much their Lodge has donated to the Festival, but that figure should be seen not as how much they have raised to meet the Lodge aspiration, but how much good that money will do to support the young, the elderly, the sick and those in life who are disadvantaged. You can’t put a value on that, it is priceless.”
