Healing Heroes Fund

“We accept donations all year,” Mitcham said. “But we find that costumes are a great price right around Halloween, and it’s easy to find superhero costumes at that time.”

Arroyo said she and her son pursued nonprofit status for Healing Heroes so the organization could accept monetary donations. She said they believed monetary donations would be the most convenient way for supporters to contribute, and all funds are used to purchase new superhero costumes.

“Costumes will probably remain our primary focus,” Arroyo said. “There are a lot of great charities out there for children, so we want to stay focused on empowerment. It’s a piece of the puzzle that is not addressed as often.”

The 2015 fundraising goal for Healing Heroes is $1,000, Mitcham said.

[caption id="attachment_112582" align="alignright" width="460"] Mitcham said he received a note thanking him for providing superhero costumes to sick children.[/caption]

Mitcham said his favorite moment while running the organization was receiving a thank-you card from the hospital staff after Healing Heroes’ first drive in 2014.

“It made me feel like we had made a difference, even in a small way,” he said. “We brought the kids a little bit of brightness.”

Mitcham said he hopes the organization will raise enough money to begin to work with additional hospitals as well as assemble a volunteer base in the near future.

“We’d love to expand to other hospitals and maybe even other states,” he said. “We want to raise enough to get bigger and bigger and impact as many lives as possible.”