Working together and connecting as a community to “Safeguard and Improve Your Environment” was the theme of the International Day of Happiness open house at the Church of Scientology in Seattle

Since 2013, the United Nations has celebrated the International Day of Happiness in March as a way to recognize the importance of happiness in the lives of people around the world. In 2015, the UN launched the “17 Sustainable Development Goals” which seek to “end poverty, reduce inequality, and protect our planet”—three key aspects that lead to well-being and happiness.

At their Seattle open house and community forum, the Church of Scientology stressed supporting these goals by safeguarding and improving the environment through local community projects and increasing the impact of these activities by working with others in the neighborhood.

Jenny Frankl, Senior Planning & Development Specialist with Seattle Public Utilities Clean City Division, briefed those attending the event on Seattle’s grassroots Adopt-a-Street program and stressed the importance of working with others to make a difference.

“You pick up trash in your neighborhood and you’re meeting more neighbors who are interested and then all of a sudden in doing that, what do we have— we have a community of people working together to make our neighborhood better,” Frankl said. “Adopt-a-Street is much more about community than it is about trash pickup—it’s more about those connections.”

She thanked the Scientology Environmental Task Force and the local chapter of The Way to Happiness Foundation for joining the Adopt-a-Street program right out of the gate in 1992, noting that so far in 2024, 90 new volunteers and organizations have signed up for the program bringing the total to 1,443 in the greater Seattle area.

“Our volunteers are proud to celebrate their 32nd year of service, keeping their adopted streets clean and litter-free,” said Rev. Ann Pearce of the Church of Scientology. “We invite everyone to get involved in the city’s Adopt-a-Street program which impacts our neighborhoods in such a positive way.”

Scientology churches around the world sponsor chapters of The Way to Happiness Foundation that promote the precepts in this book by author, humanitarian and Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, which advance common-sense values that have brought happiness and self-respect to millions. Through three decades of supporting the Adopt-a-Street program, the Seattle chapter forwards the precept “Safeguard and improve your environment.”

The Way to Happiness holds the Guinness World Record as the single most-translated nonreligious book. It fills the moral vacuum in an increasingly materialistic society.

The Church of Scientology of Seattle is an Ideal Scientology Church, dedicated by Scientology ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige in July 2010. The Church is configured to serve its parishioners in their ascent to spiritual freedom and to serve as a resource for the entire community.

For more information, watch The Way to Happiness book on film on the Scientology Network, or visit the website of the Church of Scientology of Washington State.