A Hero's Welcome

Saturday's United Way Heroes' Breakfast was a big hit again this year.
Local volunteers get together for a few hours at the Boys and Girls Club as a fund raiser for the United Way and as a day that provides life-long memories for kids and their parents.
Oh, and for the heroes, too.

During the four hours at the B&G Club, more than 100 kids came through. They collected autographs from the likes of Shrek and Fiona, Snow White, Wonder Woman, Batman and Batgirl, Darth Vader and Mr Incredible and his daughter Violet.






Some smaller children are kinda overwhelmed and a bit shy.
Others kind of look at the heroes with suspicion and the older kids are there for the games and of course, the food. Brix 527 owner Misty and her staff cranked out awesome pancakes and sausage at no cost to the United Way.






Every once in a while, though, a kid comes through the door who is just the right age and buys into the show 100 percent.
This year, Supergirl came through the door and lit up the room with her excitement.
She exclaimed "Superman!!" when she saw him and held out her arms.


















Then Wonder Woman's name echoed through the gym.

Supergirl was there for at least two hours, hitting every station and smiling the whole time. By the end of her visit, every hero really felt like one and she will never forget that day, either.



















A couple of notes from the day:
Dan Bain came by to shoot some pics of the event. He sat down next to me, in my Mr Incredible suit, and we were talking about the good old days when a young man walked up with his mouth partially agog and big eyes.
He was pointing our way.
I figured he was a big Incredibles fan, but instead, the 11 year old stuttered and said, "Dan Bain!"
Just like the little kids on hand, he got to have breakfast with his hero.
It probably made Dan's day, too.

And finally, at the end of the morning, we gave away a bunch of prizes provided by PacificSource. We had video game systems, a flat panel TV and some other electronic gadgets. Each person was given a handful of tickets to put in the drawing for the item of their choice.
I took the mic and asked the crowd which prize they were hoping for.
A dad with one kid on his shoulders and three others around his legs hollered for the XBox. I told him it would be last and he was bummed out because he was so excited to win it.
After giving away all the rest of the swag, I took teh lid off the XBox container and sure enough, drew his name.
He went home happy to say the least.

I say the whole morning was...Incredible.