{"id":13785,"date":"2011-05-04T23:23:19","date_gmt":"2011-05-05T06:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reallifesuperheroes.org\/?p=13785"},"modified":"2011-05-04T23:23:19","modified_gmt":"2011-05-05T06:23:19","slug":"costumed-superheroes-visit-granite-falls-willmar-to-commit-anonymous-good-deeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/2011\/05\/04\/costumed-superheroes-visit-granite-falls-willmar-to-commit-anonymous-good-deeds\/","title":{"rendered":"Costumed superheroes visit Granite Falls, Willmar to commit anonymous good deeds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally posted: http:\/\/www.wctrib.com\/event\/article\/id\/81136\/<\/a>
\n

\"Real-Life<\/a>

Real-Life Superheroes, from left, Geist, Arctic Knight and Blue, paying a visit to the Hawk Creek Animal Shelter in Willmar. The trio also visited the Granite Falls Manor in Granite Falls and brought supplies to hand out to the homeless in Willmar. (Tribune photo by Anne Polta)<\/p><\/div>
\nBy Anne Polta<\/strong><\/a>, West Central Tribune
\nWILLMAR \u2014 There was a slight commotion as three costumed men strode into the lobby of the Hawk Creek Animal Shelter Wednesday morning.
\n\u201cHi, I\u2019m Geist,\u201d said one of them, shaking hands with a family visiting the Willmar shelter to see the dogs.
\nThe trio left an assortment of gifts at the front counter \u2014 cat food, dog food, food and water bowls, a litter pan and some cash. \u201cKeep up the good work,\u201d Geist called out as they departed in an unmarked car for their next stop.
\nWho were those masked crusaders?
\nDon\u2019t ask for their real names because they aren\u2019t telling. The three belong to Real-Life Superheroes, an international organization of citizen volunteers who don make-believe superhero personas to commit good deeds.
\nThis much they\u2019ll reveal: Geist is from Rochester and has been a Real-Life Superhero since 2007. Blue, from Granite Falls, and Arctic Knight, from Burnsville, joined Real-Life Superheroes about a year ago.
\n\u201cWe come from all different walks of life,\u201d Geist said. \u201cWe all have our various reasons for doing this.\u201d
\nAction, not talk, is one of the motivators, said Blue. \u201cApathy is our main enemy.\u201d
\nThe superheroes, who don\u2019t share their identity with anyone other than a few trusted individuals, were traveling Wednesday as they usually do \u2014 on their own time and their own dime.
\nTheir first stop was at the Granite Falls Manor in Granite Falls, where they left cookies, crayons, paints and other craft supplies. Their next stop was the Hawk Creek Animal Shelter in Willmar, after which they planned to patrol the town in search of homeless people, handing out socks and candy bars.
\nTheir superhero activities are many and varied.
\nThey spend time with terminally ill children, work with the homeless and help out with community causes. When heavy rain flooded towns in southeastern Minnesota last fall, Geist loaded a truck with supplies and delivered them to the stricken communities. Blue promotes safe driving awareness, putting up posters during the holiday season festooned with red ribbons that can be torn off and placed as a reminder on someone\u2019s car.
\nSome of their actions are more risky. One of the things they do is paint over gang graffiti, a move that\u2019s not welcomed by gang members. Real-Life Superheroes in the U.S. and abroad also have aligned themselves with law enforcement as citizen patrols for preventing and reporting crimes.
\nDon\u2019t some people think the Superhero costumes are goofy? \u201cIf they do, that\u2019s fine,\u201d Geist said. \u201cIf we can bring a smile to someone\u2019s face, how good is that? When we go out and find homeless people, when we hand them food and supplies, it doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s attention-getting for a cause, Arctic Knight said. \u201cPeople are going to be inspired.\u201d
\nTari Evenson, manager of the Hawk Creek Animal Shelter, said she and the shelter staff didn\u2019t know about the Real Life Superheroes\u2019 visit until that morning.
\n\u201cThey called us and said they were going to stop by with some donations,\u201d she said. \u201cI wish we had more superheroes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WILLMAR \u2014 There was a slight commotion as three costumed men strode into the lobby of the Hawk Creek Animal Shelter Wednesday morning. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[182,201,344,1017,1203,1710,2173,2181,2548,2917,2953],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13785"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rlsh.net\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}