Tell Me More: The man behind the signs at an east Columbus intersection

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Rain or shine, from 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., at the corner of Broad and Hamilton, is Julius Brown, offering positive messages for commuters on their daily drive.

Brown was sleeping on that corner when he receive his own sign.

“I didn’t hear a voice,” he said. “I just got awakened and, for lack of a better term, it was impressed upon me to make those signs. I didn’t even know how.”

Brown doesn’t know how he made it this far; he was in foster care for as long as he can remember, was incarcerated several times since turning 16, and struggled with a 30-year drug addiction.

“It’s a miracle and I got to add a blessing,” he said. “It’s a big miracle because I OD’d. I been to hell and back several times.”

At 65, Brown thinks he’s been clean for more than a decade (he can’t remember dates very well). He works as a janitor for a building on South 3rd Street from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. but said his real work starts at 6 a.m.

“This is my calling,” he said of his signs, now numbering more than 300. “I’m going to go ahead and say it; ‘This is what you asked me to do and I’m going to finish it.’ When I was on the floor that day and I told Him, ‘I would.’”