Be Generous
With Gratitude
In Life You Should Say It With Gratitude
In The Summer Of 2014 Scott Colby took a trip to Guatemala to help build schools with Hug It Forward that would change his life forever. During his time in Guatemala, he became close with both the students and parents of the students, and was shocked by their overall positive demeanor.
Each family came from a place of struggle, having little access to clean water, not much food, and living in small run down single room homes. However, their attitude towards life seemed to emphasize gratitude and graciousness and lacked the common negativity or "grass is always greener" mindset that we see here in America. They didn't seem to care about material possessions (no iPhones or TV!); they were content with what they had and thrilled with their new school.
That trip to Guatemala left Scott feeling conflicted upon his return to Colorado. He couldn't understand why the kids and parents in Guatemala seemed so happy, despite having so little, and yet a large percentage of people here in America struggle to feel even slightly content on a daily basis.
The Difference Is Gratitude
After learning about the positive benefits gratitude can have on people, such as more joy, happiness and optimism, Scott decided he wanted to create a gratitude movement called Say It With Gratitude. Always a big believer in handwritten thank you notes from an early age, when his parents made him send thank you cards to Grandma and Grandpa as a kid to thank them for Christmas presents, Scott decided to start there.
Wanting to get kids and charities involved in his new adventure, Scott decided to have kids draw the artwork for the cards! Say It With Gratitude’s first set of cards we drawn by kids from Guatemala, and a portion of sales were donated to Pencils of Promise, which builds school in Guatemala and other developing countries.
Here are 3 of our very first designs from the kids in Guatemala!
In the first year and a half, Say It With Gratitude has worked with a number of different kids’ causes including kid’s cancer, kid’s hunger, child abuse, bullying, and education - always finding kids that had been positively affected by a charity, and giving back a portion of sales to that charity.
Today, Say It With Gratitude has established a partnership with Hug It Forward, the same organization that Scott helped build schools in Guatemala with. Hug It Forward is a multicultural organization operating at the grassroots level in the region of Latin America, with an emphasis in Guatemala. They facilitate education and awareness around improved trash management methods via the construction of bottle classrooms. For every pack of cards sold, Scott makes a donation to Hug It Forward to help them continue building bottle schools.