N D DAILY NEWS
PEYTON MANNING AND DAVID LETTERMAN VISITED CAMPUS 05 A smooth transition: Yorktown native Kate Vinson eagerly awaits her first season with Ball State Women’s Volleyball. 08
Frightening films to watch: Check out these horror films to celebrate the spooky season. 09
SMILING through the struggles Matthew Peiffer makes a difference as Muncie’s Smile Man and an advocate for ending child abuse. Sophie Nulph Reporter As the chilly October wind whips up the litter at the corner of McGalliard Road and Walnut Street, an alien dances, lighting up the Texas Roadhouse building. Cars honk as they drive by, and children wave their arms out the window to say hello to the mysterious man in an alien costume. Since 2019, Matthew Peiffer has dressed up in various costumes and danced along McGalliard Road with one goal in mind: to put a smile on everyone’s face. “You can actually see the difference people are having on people’s lives,” Peiffer said, “Whether that be officers on the street telling me that they went to a domestic where the kids were talking about seeing me that day or people reaching out to me … saying, ‘My son lost his baseball game last night. He saw you walking [in a costume along McGalliard] and couldn’t stop laughing.’” With more than 2,000 followers, the Muncie’s Smile Man Facebook page helps families keep track of Peiffer’s whereabouts. Peiffer did not start the page or come up with his nickname. Bailey Smith, a 19-year-old Muncie resident, created the page in August after she noticed people were continuing to get Peiffer confused with her friend dressing up as the Pokemon character Pickachu. People kept making Facebook posts asking who Peiffer was, Smith said, so she came up with a nickname and Facebook page for everyone to put their pictures together.
10.22.2020
“He would make little subtle comments under posts that people made or little jokes,” Smith said. “Then, I found his actual Facebook page, so I started talking to him, and he told me why [he dresses up in costumes].” Peiffer said he wants his good deed to go further than putting a smile on a child’s face in a passing car’s window. He hopes children who are being abused behind closed doors will see him and “fill the rest of their night with happiness.” Peiffer said he holds child abuse advocacy close to his heart. After being born to a mother who struggled with drug addiction, Peiffer and his two sisters were adopted in 2000. For 13 years, Peiffer said, he and his sisters were abused until they landed back in the foster care system. He was separated from his sisters and began a two-year journey moving through eight different foster homes. When Peiffer was 19 years old, he said, his younger sister died by suicide after years of abuse. His sister’s death sparked Peiffer’s motivation to help end child abuse and advocate for children like him and his sisters. Less than three percent of foster children graduate from a four-year college, according to the National Foster Youth Institute. Peiffer is a 23-year-old social work freshman at Ball State. He said the foster care system isn’t set up for academic success, and his goal is to help change the world of social work for the better.
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See SMILE, 10
Matthew Peiffer, dressed in a Mr. Potato Head costume, dances on the sidewalk Oct. 16, 2020, outside Texas Roadhouse in Muncie. Peiffer started dressing up in various costumes to bring happiness to children. JADEN WHITEMAN, DN
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