CHRISTMAS MISSION VIDEO

Just checking in to post this video, produced by The Watchman that features footage from the Christmas Toy Drive and deliveries. Also features Blackbird, Citizen, Wonderboy, and Heroes in the Night author Tea Krulos.



PS- Can anyone tell me why YouTube videos are like a mile wide on blogger and how to fix it?

UPDATE: Thanks to Heroes in the Night readers Silvestro of Italy and 6thNut of Seattle for helping me fix it!

HOLIDAY TOY DRIVE REPORT

Wonder Boy, a Meta House nurse, The Watchman, and Blackbird outside of Meta House

On Saturday, December 11, I joined The Watchman, Blackbird, and Citizen (of Chicago) for an in person toy/art supply drive in front of Fuel Cafe, here in Milwaukee. People were generous and I wrote more about the day and shared photos in a previous blog entry HERE.

I again joined the heroes for the two deliveries of the donated bounty. On Friday the meet up spot was my kitchen, from which we headed a short distance over to the Meta House. Blackbird arrived first, followed by The Watchman with his son and heir apparent, Wonder Boy. Wonder Boy has traditionally joined Watchman for his holiday charity events.

We had several bags of art supplies and toys. We were met outside of Meta House by two staff members, and led inside into their office. The Meta House is located in a couple of beautiful old buildings that used to house a Catholic school and convent for nuns. As we walked through the halls we encountered some of the Meta House residents who reacted with delighted surprise at the sight of the superheroes patrolling the hall.

The kids of Meta House were all in school, but after dropping of the supplies, the Meta House staff suggested the superheroes stop in the basement to say hi to some of the women who were having some social/ craft time. We filed down the narrow stairway and were met with more surprise. The Watchman briefly told the women what being a RLSH was all about and was greeted with great enthusiasm and well wishes. We wished the residents and staff a happy holiday and left.


Outside of the Gingerbread House

On Sunday I found myself cruising on the highway through the forests of bare winter trees, billboards, and outlet stores in the Birdmobile, with dance mash ups bumping on the stereo. I was riding with Blackbird as we headed to meet The Watchman in West Bend to make the second donation. The Gingerbread House is a charity that gives donated toys to poor families in Washington County. Again, we had several large bags of toys that filled up one of Gingerbread House's bins in their makeshift warehouse facility. The Gingerbread House staff was very kind and gave us each a Christmas card. They said it has been a rough year and any donations were very helpful.

The heroes talk with Gingerbread House staff inside their facility

MEANWHILE...

Geist and Arctic Knight with donations for People Serving People

In Minneapolis, The Watchman's Great Lake Alliance team mates- Geist and Razorhawk, along with Minneapolis's newest RLSH addition, Arctic Knight also did a delivery over the weekend. The trio dropped off toys and food at People Serving People, a large shelter and facility in downtown Minneapolis. They also read Frosty the Snowman to kids who reside in the shelter.

And so, the superheroes did what they could to try to capture the holiday spirit and give to others, and helped out three charity organizations. Good work!

HOLIDAY BREAK...
I will be taking a holiday break from Heroes in the Night to try to catch up on some other facts of life and will return to this blog January 5. I hope all of you have a great holiday, no matter if you are a hero doing a Christmas or New Year hand out or whether you are a sinister villain plotting during Ubermas, happy holidays to all.

RLSH GEOGRAPHY & POPULATION COLUMN

Carrying on with my regular column for our fine friends at FORCES OF GEEK, I made an attempt to talk about where in the world we can find RLSH and the biggest FAQ of all- "How many of them are out there?"

COLUMN HERE

MILWAUKEE TOY DRIVE- Photo Essay

L-R: Blackbird, Tea Krulos, Citizen, The Watchman

By Tea Krulos

Milwaukee and Chicago Real Life Superheroes worked together to run a toy drive in the Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee, Saturday, December 11. I helped the heroes organize the event. After some brainstorming, we decided to host an in person event where people could donate items or money in person. We decided on two charities to work with: The Gingerbread House is a charity which gives toys to families who are financially struggling in nearby Washington County. The Meta House is a rehab and recovery program for women and their children in Riverwest. They also cited a need for art supplies for their many art programs, so we added our scope to include that.



The Fuel Cafe has been serving "Killer Coffee/ Lousy Service" since 1993 and is a neighborhood landmark on Center Street- everyone knows where it is. Since it's opening the neighborhood has developed many bars, restaurants, boutiques, and art galleries in the immediate area. I know one of the owners and thought he might be cool with letting us set up outside. He said that it sounded great. The staff was also gracious and somewhat amused.



I arrived on the scene and found Citizen, who is from Chicago, already at the scene. He made the drive between Chicago and Milwaukee (approx. 90 minutes) in quick time and was early. Citizen had been planning his own toy drive, but it wasn't going the way he wanted so decided to bring his donations up to share with ours.



The first person to stop by with a donation was Molly Snyder, associate editor at Onmilwaukee.com, a daily website that alot of people check out for things to do. Molly had done a write up the day before on the toy drive (HERE). We also were featured in the local alternative paper, the Shepherd Express in the "This Week in Milwaukee" two page spread (HERE). This is like their "picks of the week" for events, a coveted space anyone doing an event wants a blurb in.
Many people stopping by said they saw the Onmilwaukee or Shepherd Express write ups.



The Watchman has become pretty well known because of local media, and in a situation like this it has served him well. That is why I helped push him as a key figure in this- to take advantage of the media attention he's received.

One of our favorite moments of the day was when a fire engine pulled up right in front of us. This is not unusual- firefighters and police stop by Fuel regularily to get coffee and food. Two of the firemen jumped out of the truck, and one started walking toward us.

"Well, I know he's The Watchman- but who is this guy?" He said, pointing at Citizen. Citizen introduced himself. The fireman talked to his partner, exchanged some money, and dropped a twenty dollar bill in the change jar. The Watchman was asking people to sign the toy drive box, and the fireman signed it "MFD- Truck 5."

I asked if I could take their picture, and the fireman said, "yeah, sure, get all of us in front of the truck." Just then, they got a call and the driver yelled "We got to go!" As the fireman climbed in the truck, he told Watchman he should stop by the station some time.



People stopped by at a slow but steady pace. A woman brought a couple deluxe sets of crayons. A man brought a beautiful color pencil/ paint set. One couple had seen the Onmilwaukee article and brought two big bags of comic book hero toys. Not the normal stuff you'd find in a department store, but the collector direct market deluxe ones. Someone brought a monkey stuffed animal. One guy rolled up, said his kid had too many toys, and grabbed a mini basketball and a toy ray gun lying in the back seat of his car and threw them in the box. We got play-doh, coloring books, toy kitchen sets, comic books, and much more. Several other people dropped cash in the jar.



Blackbird had work obligations he couldn't get out of all day, but did manage to make a brief appearance to show his support and drop off a massive amount of donations. He could hardly walk, his arms were holding so many bags of toys and art supplies he had gotten. He stayed for awhile and talked, but then had to get back to work.



Weather in Wisconsin this time of year can be brutal. We had heard nightmare forecasts of rain, sleet, and blizzards. Fortunately for most of the day it wasn't bad. It was cold, but the weather was mild. About mid afternoon it slowly began to mist and then rain, so the guys started loading the donations into Watchman's car.



We filled up a giant box and a huge tupperware bin with donated stuff, lots of really great items. Pictured is just some of the stuff that was donated. We also raised a little bit over fifty bucks in cash, which will be used to buy more items. We will be delivering the donations to both charities within the next week. I will report on that after it happens.

I think this was a success. It was experimental- we had no idea if anyone would show up at all, what the weather actually would be like, etc.

The group of us who collaborated on this would like to thank Fuel Cafe, for letting us set up out front, Molly and Onmilwaukee.com, the Shepherd Express, Jan Christensen from the Riverwest Currents (who stopped to take our picture and write notes for possible inclusion in an upcoming issue), and Citizen for making the drive up. Of course most importantly, a big thanks to all the wonderful people who made it happen by taking time to stop by and donate, from hippie artists to firemen.

Happy holidays!

ONMILWAUKEE.com story on Watchman, Krulos, Toy Drive

Tomorrow I will be doing a toy drive event in front of the Fuel Cafe, a landmark business of Riverwest. The Watchman will also be there along with Citizen (of Chicago, see yesterday's Hero Profile) and an appearance by Blackbird.

Molly Snyder, associate editor of onmilwaukee.com wrote a great article about the event in a post titled "Real Life Superhero Plans Toy Collection," posted in the Holiday Guide section. I knew she'd be into it- Molly has a great love for Riverwest and all the unique things that go on here.

The link is HERE.

Excelsior!

HERO PROFILE # 57: Citizen

Operates out of: Chicago, IL

Activities: "I work with charities in the area to help raise money and awareness for their causes. I also do night patrols in an attempt to help fight the growing crime rates in my area."

Upgrades: Working on body armor and a "Citizen Mobile."

Author's notes: I have heard through the superhero grapevine that Citizen is going to make the drive from Chicago up to Milwaukee to lend a hand in the holiday toy drive going on here on Saturday (see previous entry)- welcome to Milwaukee, Citizen!

Milwaukee Holiday Toy Drive

I am helping the local guys with their holiday charity mission. Below is the press release for the event-

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE- MILWAUKEE "REAL LIFE SUPERHERO" LEADS TOY DRIVE

Milwaukee, WI-December, 1, 2010- You’ve probably read an article about him in a paper or heard people talk about him. Maybe you’ve even seen him on the streets of Milwaukee. Now you can not only meet Milwaukee’s Real Life Superhero, The Watchman, but you can help him with a heroic mission- donating toys and art supplies to charity.

Saturday, December 11, The Watchman will be in person in front of the Fuel Café (818 E. Center Street) from 10AM-4PM collecting donations of cash, art supplies, and (new) toys. Online money and in person cash donations will be used to buy additional toys and art supplies and everything will be delivered in person to two charities the following week.

Those charities are the Gingerbread House, located in West Bend, which provides toys to low income families who can’t afford to buy gifts for their children and Meta House, a rehab center for women and their children, located in Riverwest. Meta House has also cited a need for art supplies for their various art programs.

This is the third year The Watchman and his Great Lakes Alliance teammates in Minnesota are participating in a holiday charity mission. Fundraising will be open online on the team’s site, www.wix.com/glhg10/gla2010, until December 10. The online funds will be divided between Milwaukee and the Minnesota heroes, who will be donating to People Serving People, a shelter in Minneapolis.

This year Watchman has the additional support of Milwaukee author Tea Krulos (who is writing a book on real life superheroes) and fellow Milwaukee real life superhero Blackbird (who is helping with the mission, but won’t be at the drive, due to his mysterious nature) and other volunteers on hand to help out. In a comic book reversal, The Watchman is shining a batsignal to the public, hoping people will stop by and donate gifts for these great charities and share the holiday spirit.

At a glance:
WHAT: The Watchman’s charity toy drive
WHEN: Saturday, December 11, 10AM-4PM
WHERE: Fuel Café, 818 E. Center Street
The Watchman is collecting toys, art supplies, and money for two charities- the Gingerbread House in West Bend and the Meta House in Riverwest. Donations can also be made online until December 10 at the Great Lakes Alliance’s website: www.wix.com/glhg10/gla2010

Contact: Tea Krulos
teakrulos@gmail.com

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