Spreading happiness with sofas
22 Jan 2013 | Action for Happiness
At the end of last year we ran a special competition where our members could win
one of two fabulous bespoke sofas from Happy Sofa.
To enter they had to tell us how they would use their sofa to
spread a bit more happiness in the world around them.
We had a phenomenal response with interest and entries from many
hundreds of people. Choosing the winners was extremely difficult
and the shortlisted entries included people wanting to give the
sofa to a local library, a pregnant friend, a community cafe, their
dad, a children's nursery, an NHS staff area, an ashram, a
university, a retreat house, a school and a charity helping the
homeless.
But eventually we decided on two extremely worthy and inspiring
winners, listed below.
Winner 1: Heather Barnes
Heather works for Hull Children's Centres supporting vulnerable
families with young children - offering support, guidance and
education with the aim of ensuring that children are ready for
school, as well as happy, safe and loved. There are 21 centres
across Hull, all in areas of deprivation, and they have been
drastically hit by recent government cuts.
Heather said: "Receiving this sofa would be a fantastic meeting
place for families and a great boost to staff moral. We often
hold social events such as coffee mornings, play groups and music
groups and the sofa could be used as a central point for these. We
could also move it around the centres or take it into the local
streets, with a coffee table, tea and cakes, and spread the word
about the good work that children's centres do and how to get
involved. I believe a Happiness Sofa would literally spread
happiness to hundreds of families in Hull!"
Winner 2: Sarah Boldison
Sarah works in mental health and learning disabilities at Devon
Partnership NHS Trust, where she organises a
wide range of learning opportunities for people suffering with
mental health issues and their family members.
Sarah said: "This sofa would be used in one of our pop up
colleges surrounded by promotional material about happier living.
For example this would include Action for Happiness
postcards, the five-a-day for mental wellbeing and the Mental
Health Foundation's report on why kindness is good for
you. We would record the stories about how we are
spreading the message and all of this will be co-designed with
people who have a lived experience of mental health issues"
Many congratulations to Heather and Sarah and huge thanks to
everyone who took the time to enter the competition. Once again we
were blown away by the enthusiasm, creativity and selfless
generosity of Action for Happiness members.
Here's to a very happy and inspiring 2013 for all of you and
those you love.
---
Happy
Sofa is a new online sofa retailer with a simple mission - to make the living spaces
of Britain happier places! And helping out good causes is a big
part of their plans. Each and every Happy Sofa is made to
order and there are thousands of combinations to choose from.
Tags:
Do things for others, Be a Happiness Activist