
Everyone could use a little perk-me-up during the day and many of us turn to a good cup of Joe to get the job done. Who knew that giving charitably could give some of those very same benefits as our daily cuppa?
Read on to find out some great reasons and terrific ways to get your energy bump and do some good in the world.
Boost Mood: Both coffee and giving charitably improve your mood by creating more serotonin in your brain. Serotonin is your “feel good” chemical. When you have enough you can “feel more focused, emotionally stable, happier and calmer”.
Sense of connection: Sharing a cup of coffee, through socializing, gives you a feeling of connection to the people you are with. Giving charitably gives you a sense of global connection knowing you’ve made a positive impact in the world.
Reduces stress: You heard it right, coffee reduces stress. It does that by increasing your alertness and decreasing feelings of fatigue. The act of giving reduces your stress providing you with a sense of purpose while taking your mind off your day-to-day worries.
Enhanced self-esteem: Chances are, that you know coffee improves attention span, psychomotor performance and cognitive function. When you perform tasks better and faster, you tend to feel better about yourself. Giving to charity also makes you feel better, because, well, who doesn’t feel good when helping someone else.
Activation of reward center: Both caffeine and the act of giving cause your brain to respond by releasing an increased amount of dopamine, the main neurotransmitter associated with rewards and pleasure. When you do something that makes you feel good, you often want to do more of it, like having another great cup of coffee and helping someone out.
So, it looks like coffee and giving go together. Listed below are some businesses both locally, in Ocean County, as well as nationally that think so too. Purchasing from them may allow your next cup of coffee to give your good mood an extra healthy boost.

Local coffees for a cause:
Pops Coffee Shop located at 1951 Rt. 35, North Ortley Beach, NJ 08753 gives 50% of every dollar earned to both the Pancreatic Cancer Foundation and the Make a Wish Foundation.
Compassion Café provides meaningful employment and job training for adolescents and adults with disabilities. They are open seasonally. Tune in to compassioncafelbi.org to find out where and when they will next be open.
Help out while brewing at home:
Grounds & Hounds donates 20% of all profits to animal rescue organizations. 100% of the profits for their Rescue Roast Blend are donated to a new rescue organization each month. You can visit their online store at groundsandhoundscoffee.com.
Fire Department Coffee supports fire fighters and first responders who are sick or injured on the job by donating $2 of every bag of coffee and $5 of every shirt purchased. You can visit them at www.firedepartmentcoffee.com.
BLK & Bold supports initiative for children in need to live their best lives. 5% of all gross profits go to organizations (currently 14 of them) that support these programs. You can visit their online store at blkandbold.com.
(Please note that neither the writer nor The Latest View have been compensated for this article.)
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