WYOMING MI -- Riley Combs got the idea to try reverse panhandling after watching a woman standing at a street corner near Rivertown Crossings mall.

The woman was holding a sign and asking for a handout -- a scene replicated at many heavily-traveled intersections in the Grand Rapids area these days.

Combs, who has long donated time and money to his church and local missions, thought he would do the opposite.

He got $100 in $1 bills and made a sign.

It read: "No, I am not homeless. I am not hungry. Can I give YOU a dollar?"

Then Combs and his wife, Hermi, headed on Saturday for a tiny median strip at the corner of 44th Street SW and Byron Center Avenue.

The responses from the public were varied as Riley Combs held a wad of cash in his hand, passing dollar bills to people who opened their windows.

"Many people said 'God bless you," or 'This is awesome,'" said Hermi Combs, who took photos of her husband at the corner.

"Some people said 'No, we don't need anything.' They probably didn't read his sign or thought he wanted money," she said.

In an odd circumstance, three people actually tried to give Combs money.

The whole giveaway took about an hour, she said.

Giving and donating time in unusual ways is nothing new to the Combs. In the last two years, they have purchased more than $100 in ArtPrize bus bracelets and passed them out to those in need.

The $2.50 bracelets allow for unlimited rides on the Rapid and DASH buses for the duration of ArtPrize.

The Combs', who are both 70, also donate time to City Life Church on Division Avenue in Grand Rapids and routinely help the homeless.

"We always say, 'The more we save, the more we can give,'" Hermi Combs said. "It's a fun way to live."

E-mail John Tunison: jtunison@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/johntunison