Smile with LTD on World Smile Day
Lane Transit District (LTD) employees are inviting the community to smile with them to celebrate World Smile Day on Friday, Oct. 6, 2023.
“On World Smile Day we can all be intentional to flash a smile at the people we see every day,” said Cammie Harris, LTD’s Senior Marketing, Communication & Community Engagement Specialist, who is coordinating the District’s third year celebrating smiles. “There are few things that say ‘thank you’ or simply acknowledge another person more than a smile.”
The benefits of smiling have been noted in numerous research articles. A Psychology Today article identifies several benefits to smiling:
- Smiling elevates mood and creates a sense of well-being
- Even a forced smile can lead to a mood boost
- Smiling can make a person look younger
- Smiling makes people seem courteous, likable, and competent
- Smiling can make a person look thinner
- Smiling induces more pleasure in the brain than chocolate
- Smiling is contagious
Smiley buttons will be available from bus operators and from customer service representatives at the downtown Eugene Transit Station and the Springfield Transit Station beginning Tuesday, October 3 while supplies last.
Harvey Bell, a Massachusetts graphic designer, created the smiley face in 1963. He organized the first World Smile Day in 1999. Bell believed that everyone should devote one day each year to smiles and kind acts throughout the world. After his death in 2001, the Harvey Bell World Smile Day Foundation was established to honor him through an annual sponsorship of World Smile Day®.
Travel with LTD to the places you want to go. Complete bus schedules and maps are available online.