10 years ago (this month) was our first charity visit as “Project Superhero”. I dressed up in a cheap Batman suit and read to a room full of young children. Some of those kids, (our oldest daughter included) are now in high school, driving, and climbing an exciting ladder to new big things. They are moving up and moving on.
It is with a heavy (but happy) heart that Sarah and I have decided to do the same. At the end of this year we will no longer accept “general visit requests” and only focus on Children’s Hospital Visits and limited community visits.
We receive an overwhelming amount of visit requests every month for birthday celebrations, local fundraisers, and other superhero themed activities in our community. The truth is that we love this so much that Sarah and I can’t 100% give it up… so we have to limit our activity level drastically to keep it alive.
Why scale back now? This past year has been challenging for us in the management of our little charity. Many of our volunteers have stepped away. We don’t have enough heroes to make the visits… so we are having to turn down most requests. In addition, our careers are growing and our kids are both so big now. We must divide our time more wisely between them… because it all just goes so fast. We hope you all understand.
On a personal note… this has been one of the greatest joys of our lives, to watch this small non-profit thrive over the last decade. As a group, we have made over a thousand visits and have met thousands of people. At times we have experienced sadness. Even stepping out of the room to hide tears. But, more often than not, we left our visits smiling and joyful.
We are eternally grateful to the volunteers that have given so much of themselves, the sponsors and donors who believed in us and helped us along the way, and of course, all of the people (big and small) that shared a moment with us while we were in the suits. We remember all of you. You have made our lives immeasurably better. Thank you all for being our sidekicks during this amazing journey.
Love,
Rodney and Sarah Leary
(Batman and Wonder Woman)
