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6-year-old Georgia boy starts #TheSmileExperiment after losing parents

WATCH ABOVE: A six-year-old boy from Georgia who lost both his parents is set out to make everyone smile after dealing with so much sadness in his life. Mike Cihla reports.

Six-year-old Jaden Hayes knows pain.

After losing his dad at the age of four and his mother unexpectedly last month, the young Savannah, Georgia boy was tired of seeing people sad. He decided it was time to make everyone happy instead, so he came up with ‘The Smile Experiment.’

Hayes said his mission is to put a grin on the faces of every stranger he meets simply because “when you smile it makes [him] happy.”

Hayes, along with his aunt Barbara DiCola, hands out toys, candies and trinkets to everyone he meets in exchange for a smile. He documents it all on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram under the hashtag #TheSmileExperiment.

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Hayes only started his project a few weeks back, but it’s already generating a lot of positive buzz around the world, including in China, Germany and London.

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Hayes’ aunt said she has only encountered one tiny problem with her nephew’s experiment.

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“Jaden decided that he did not need to go to school. He had a job. His job was to go out and make people smile,” said DiCola.

But to Hayes, it’s all for a good reason.

“I like it when people smile,” he said.

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