A North Texas woman is spreading cheer one yard sign at a time.
It is a gesture she hopes brings a smile during these challenging times for so many.
Call it a movement to spread peace and happiness.
“Yes, I am. I am a little bit of a hippie at heart I will say,” said Joanie Curry with a laugh.
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At a time of deep divide in the nation and a relentless virus, she hopes her smiling yard signs are ‘contagious.’
“I can’t change COVID. I can’t change politics. I can’t change what’s going on in the world. But it’s a little tiny thing that I can do, and it sure has worked,” Curry said. “I love it.”
The Richardson resident bought a bunch of iconic ‘smiley face’ signs to start the new year, first for her yard and then for friends and neighbors.
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“I was just trying to put a smile on somebody’s face that needed it or that had made me smile, thank them,” she said. “People were calling me saying this person needs a smile, they were just diagnosed with breast cancer or someone got a job and was celebrating.”
For Chelsea Davenport, it was just the sign she needed.
“It stopped me in my tracks,” Davenport said.
Davenport just happened to be driving to a friend’s house when she noticed the neighbor’s lawn.
“I was actually crying, listening to a song that reminded me of my dad who had just passed that week and staring me straight in the face is a big smiley face sign,” she said.
Davenport is grieving the sudden loss of her father to cancer. He died a week after being diagnosed, she said.
“Since I can remember, my dad has left a note almost every single day of our lives with a smiley face at the end. He would even color it with a highlighter,” she said. “So, seeing that I just really really knew that that was him telling us that he was ok and to be happy.”
Curry says others can easily spread a little kindness.
“Start small. Do something simple. That’s all it took,” she said. “I have to say, whenever I do put one in a yard, I run away smiling and giggling and it makes me feel so good.”
The simple sign has helped Davenport in her healing process.
She can now focus on living out her father’s final words: “The most important things in life are family, friends and being kind to everyone,” she recalled.
