If you needed a sign to smile, Michael Whipple will literally give you one.
Every day, he stands on the corner of Lane Avenue NW and Second Street NW in Grand Rapids trading spare change for smiles.
SPARE CHANGE FOR SMILES: Meet the man spreading positivity on the streetcorner
“Why not just be uplifting?” he told FOX 17 Monday. “All these smiles I get, my endorphins go up, so I feel good when I go home.”
By now, he’s a bit of a celebrity in the area.
“He’s there every day and he gets a smile every day,” one driver said as he passed through the intersection.
FOX 17 Every day, Michael is out there with a different handmade sign. He’s made more than 500 total.
“Well, it’s very simple. It’s called ‘Google kids’ jokes,'” he said.
Michael Whipple This tradition dates back five and a half years. Although, he didn’t have any joke written on the one that started it all — just a single word.
“The first sign I held out here said ‘Smile.’ That’s all,” he said. “People loved it.”
That was the start of Whipple’s nickname — fittingly, it’s “Smiles.”