Jeff Hern is a council member in Hamilton County, Indiana, where he maintains responsibility for the county’s finances. He previously served as a national account manager for Johnsonville Sausage. In his free time, Jeff Hern enjoys woodworking and spending time in the outdoors. Indiana’s Hamilton County has plenty to offer residents and visitors, including a variety of outdoor activities and destinations such as campgrounds, horseback riding, hiking, and boating. One popular attraction is Strawtown Koteewi Park, a 750-acre adventure park with hiking and equestrian trails as well as a natural history center and archeological exhibit. For the more adventurous, the park offers Koteewi Aerial Adventure Treetop Trails, which includes a self-guided course over obstacles and zip lines for individuals 7 years of age and older. The park also offers access to Koteewi Range, an archery range for both beginning and experienced archers. Some target ranges are built to Olympic specifications, while others are well suited for newcomers to the sport. Finally, the park offers horseback riding opportunities through K-Trails Equestrian Adventures.
Jeff Hern serves as a council member for Hamilton County in Indiana. There, he helps oversee the finances of the county’s governmental offices and departments. Active in other sectors of his community, Jeff Hern regularly volunteers at the local food bank, at youth sports clubs, and other organizations. While volunteering is an altruistic act, it can also be beneficial to the volunteer. Scientific studies illuminate the ways volunteering can improve health. One study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, followed a group of Canadian high school students as they began volunteer work. Researchers found that the simple act of volunteering helped the students lose weight and improve their cholesterol levels when compared to students who did not volunteer. On the other end of the age scale, a study conducted by Carnegie Mellon University found that adults over 50 who regularly volunteered showed healthier blood pressure levels than those who did not participate in volunteer activities.. The benefits are not limited to physical health. Studies have shown that volunteering tends to make people happier. One study, conducted by the London School of Economics, found a correlation between volunteering and happiness levels in adults. The more they volunteer, the better. The study found that while monthly volunteers were 7 percent more likely to be “very happy,” weekly volunteers were 16 percent more likely to feel the happiness effect.
