Well the Superheroes were at it again spreading kindness and
joy around the City of Nevada. This time
they made a trip to the campus of Cottey College to help the faculty, staff,
and students make it through finals week.
This was the biggest mission to date for the Superheroes and one that
was very special for everyone, we pulled out all the stops and even had some
help from the originator of the group Kristal Burns who came in all the way from
Missoula, Montana to help.
This mission itself was on Monday May 7th but it
had started a few days earlier for me, I got the privilege to pick up Kristal
from the airport the Saturday before.
This was a big moment for me I finally got to meet in person the creator
and founder of the Superheroes of Kindness, a person I had emailed, skyped, and
talked to numerous times and asked a thousand questions we were finally going
to be face to face. Needless to say I
was just as excited as the Superheroes are when they get to go on their missions. The ride home was a great one time flew by as
we talked about past missions that we had been on, future plans for each of our
groups, and of course the mission at hand.
I knew I was in the presence of someone that I had grown to respect and
admired I tried to hold my excitement in but I do not think I did a very good
job. I had lofty expectations for this
latest mission and did not want to let her down. In the next couple of days I had the opportunity
to show Kristal around the town and introduce her to a few of the people that
had helped me out in getting my Superheroes started and make them as successful
as they are. It was also an opportunity for
those same people to pick Kristal’s brain and get some more of the background of
the Superheroes, it was almost a whirlwind tour of Nevada if you will.
Finally the time had come to put the Superheroes on display
like they had never been before, like I said earlier this mission we pulled out
all of the stops and we were going to impress everyone we came across that
day. On this mission we had some help
from a few of our new friends, one being the KC Chapter of the Guardians of the
Ribbon. In case you are not familiar
with this group they own and drive the Pink Fire trucks that you might have
seen to raise awareness about cancer and all who are affected by it. Please go to their web site http://www.kcguardians.org or like them on facebook http://www.facebook.com/PinkHealsGreaterKSCity
to find out a lot more about who they are and what they do. Hollie and Dave we so very gracious and
brought down the Jennielee to share with the Superheroes and all of the Cottey College
Campus. This was a huge heart on the
Superheroes cape to have them join us and be a part of our mission it was
important to us since Cottey is an all girls school to raise awareness and to
have all who have been effected on campus know that there is support for everyone! The Pink Fire truck added an element of
Kindness far beyond what the Superheroes could ever do and Hollie and Dave are
Superheroes in their own since, they might not wear capes but they have those
cool fire trucks and all that pink stuff and that is just as cool as our capes.
Another friend that came to help was the Nevada Police
Department in the form of Officers John Foster, John Millard, and Brian
Moorhouse. These three officers stepped
up and made sure that the Superheroes not only made it to campus with our very
own police escort but they made sure that when we needed to cross the streets
that traffic was stopped and we all made it across safely. It was very fun to have these true heroes
along with us for the day. Not only did
we feel safe but I must say the police escort was probably one of the coolest
things ever, but I will get to that more here in a minute.
Also along for this mission were several friends and family
members of the Superheroes. I must say
we had no shortage of help for this mission and we were thankful to have them
all along for the journey. It is very
special to see an adult in a cape hand in hand with a Superhero spreading
kindness to everyone they meet.
Ok so the stage was set we had our parade in line and it was
time to head to Cottey College!! The
Superheroes were all very impressed as we started the trip to Cottey and they
heard the police sirens and asked ”are those for us?” when told yes one
Superhero simply responded “We are famous!”
Thanks to this police escort we had a smooth ride to the college and
heck we even got to run a red light or two.
Once on campus we were greeted by Mari Anne Phillips, Vice
President of Student Life for Cottey College, she was going to be our tour
guide and escort around campus. Once off
the bus and assembled we were off and running literally. The Superheroes were very eager to get this
mission started and to get kindness flowing all over Cottey. Our first stop was to thank the people behind
the scenes we dropped in to see the staff that keep campus looking great, they
included the maintenance, cleaning, and facilities staff and if for not for
them things would not run so smooth or look so good on campus. We gave them all one of our signature paper
hearts and to kick it up a notch, just for Cottey, a fresh single stem
daisy. Of course we answered a few
questions, asked a few ourselves, and posed for a few pictures then we were off
to our next stop, the dining hall.
In the dining hall we were greeted by all the cooks and
staff, of course we had some flowers and hearts for all of them. We also met Jean Foster there and she was
ready for us, she had prepared a sack lunch for each Superhero and even had
special place mats for all of us. The
Superheroes sat and waited to surprise the students! It wasn’t long before the students started to
come in for lunch and this was a very special time for the students and
Superheroes as they got to eat together.
The conversations at the tables were to say the least very diverse and
very interesting, nothing was off topic.
We talked about pets, school, capes, hair, clothes, why some students
talked a little different, and of course how delicious lunch was. After the Superheroes finished their lunch
they went straight to work. They were
handing out hearts and flowers as fast as they could, we also broke out another
special gift for the seniors little rubber ducks dressed in caps and gowns. Not all of these ducks made it into the hands
of seniors I am sad to say but they were returned to an environment that are
comfortable in, the waterfall display in the Cottey dining room. On last report there were a few still
floating in the pool. As far as getting things passed out I know for
a fact they no student was able to come or leave the dining hall without being
met by at least one and often several Superheroes.
While we were in the dining hall our last special guest for
the day showed up and that was Brad Douglas from KSN in Joplin and has his own
segment on the news called Brad’s Beat.
He came down to video tape the Superheroes and even interviewed a few of
them for his segment. He to was blessed
with a heart and a flower and that evening his segment was probably the best I
have ever seen, but then I might be a bit biased. If you want to see the Superheroes on Brad’s
Beat just click this link http://fourstateshomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=279432. It was great to have Brad down and have him
spread our acts of kindness to others.
After the interviews were over and most of the Cottey students
had been to lunch we set out on campus again to spread more cheer, our goal now
was to visit some of the administrative offices and meet with Cottey President
Dr. Judy Rodgers. Of course on the way
we stopped back by the fire truck for some more pictures and once again with
the help of our police officer crossed the street. We met a lot of very nice ladies and handed
out more hearts and flowers. Once in the Presidents office we sat around the board room table and Dr. Rodgers thanks us
for all of our hard work and kindness and even gave each of the Superheroes a
gift bag filled with all kinds of assorted goodies. We left the office with a resounding
THANK-YOU and went on our way. This was
sadly our last stop of the day but we had shared many smiles and lifted many
spirits so our job at Cottey was done.
As we made our way to St. Mary’s the Superheroes had lots to
say. Each of them had a favorite part of
the day and each remembered a different part or a different person that they
made feel happy. It just goes to show
you that these Superheroes get just a lot out of making people smile. I know I have said this before but it cannot
be said enough no matter how big or small you are you can make a
difference. You do not have to hand out
flowers, hearts, or rubber ducks nor do you have to wear a cape to spread
kindness, but seriously and I heard it a lot on Monday how cool are those
capes!!
