Visitors spread happiness during campus stop
It seems like every other day someone’s selling bagels or handing out Zipsheets on Greene Street. But Thursday afternoon, a pair of guys were doling out a different commodity — hugs.
Matt Wargo (the hugger) and Jarret Gardner (the photographer) visited USC as part of their three-month tour with the Free Hugs Campaign.
The pair, who had been on the road 33 days as of Thursday’s appearance, have hugged the students at six universities so far.
“We try to make people smile,” said Wargo, who wore a blue FREE HUGS T-shirt and held up a sign with a matching message.“It’s just a simple gesture anybody can offer, and it can really turn someone’s day around.”
Wargo said they like to judge each university on the general friendliness of its student population.
It’s not a contest, Gardner said. They count the hugs just for fun.
The all-time hug record? Five hundred hugs in five hours — more than a hug a minute — which the two racked up at Delaware State University when a tour guide at the university walked them around campus, encouraging people to participate.
The tour, funded out-of-pocket by the pair, started in Pennsylvania and will make its way down to Florida. They hope to travel west as far as California.
Wargo, a native of Upstate New York, said he saved up money and quit his job as a gas station and movie theater attendant to go on the cross-country trip. He was acting on a whim but saw it as a calling.
“I decided I need to make people happy,” Wardgo said. “I’m not a religious person, but I have faith, and that’s what drives me.”
Wargo’s actions inspired third-year psychology and Spanish student Anthony Gomez.
“This was actually my second hug and third conversation with him today,” Gomez said. “It really brightened my day. I’m thinking about doing something like that next semester.”
For photos and more information about Wargo and Gardner’s travels, go to www.facebook.com/roadtripofamerica.