Kid crusaders strive to raise money for those in need

It’s not Halloween, but clusters of miniature Spider-Mans, Batmans and Supermans will be parading around Pitt’s campus this Sunday.

HeroiKs, a student organization dedicated to motivating children to engage in service in their community regardless of age or family income level, will host its fourth annual Pittsburgh Super Stroll on Sunday. Registration for the 1.5-mile charity walk begins at noon in the William Pitt Union, and the walk starts at 1 p.m. The route starts at the Union, loops around other campus locations including Posvar Hall and Schenley Park, and then returns to the Union.

The stroll will feature children clad in their favorite superhero costumes. While the event is free, heroiKs requests a donation of $5 per child participant or $10 per adult participant

Each year, heroiKs donates the proceeds from the walk to the Free Care Fund at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. The fund assists families who struggle with medical expenses.

This year, heroiKs will also donate a portion of the Super Stroll’s proceeds to the Unity Lutheran Community Mission after-school program because the group began working with the organization in fall 2012. The program provides children in the Homewood neighborhood with a meal and a place to do homework four evenings out of the week.

Members of heroiKs who attend the program at the Redeemer Lutheran School in Penn Hills, which is run by the Unity Lutheran Community Mission, assist the children with their homework.

Kaitlyn Goerl and Thomas Bryant founded heroiKs in fall 2011, and the organization currently has 15 members. The duo came up with the idea for the group when they noticed a common interest among the preschoolers they tutored in Pitt’s JumpStart program in 2011 — superheroes. 

“A lot of kids in our classroom were really into superheroes,” Goerl said.

Goerl said the “hero” in the name heroiKs came from the superhero theme of the annual walk, and the capitalized letter ‘K’ represents their group’s focus on kids.

Goerl, who graduated from Pitt in 2012 and studies occupational therapy at Pitt’s graduate school, and Bryant, who graduated from Pitt in 2011, met while volunteering at JumpStart, a national nonprofit organization that has a chapter at Pitt run by Pitt’s Student Affairs Office. Bryant now works as a site manager for JumpStart.

The program pairs undergraduate students with preschool students from low-income backgrounds in the Pittsburgh area. The students work together for 15 hours each week to improve the preschoolers’ reading skills during the school year.

Goerl, now a co-business manager for heroiKs, said she and Bryant started the organization to provide preschool students with opportunities to give back to the community. JumpStart focuses on children who receive financial aid, she said, but these children aren’t always aware that they can participate in community service projects, too. 

“Our main goal is for young people to see the power and influence they have in their community,” Bryant said.

Laura Carless, vice president of heroiKs and a senior studying communications, said the group meets once a week on Monday or Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. in the William Pitt Union.  

She added that the organization is flexible with participation. 

“You could either just volunteer with us … or just occasionally help out with planning the Super Stroll,” she said. “It’s a very casual group.” 

Sarah Torres, co-business manager of heroiKs, said she can’t wait to act as a superhero in this year’s Super Stroll, where she’ll be playing the “Child Hero,” who guides the children through the course. 

“The point of our walk is showing that you can serve yourself, the community and the environment,” Torres said. 

Goerl said the walk usually hosts between 100 and 120 participants, but the number of child participants has significantly grown throughout the years. 

“Throughout the walk, the child is trying to decide which cause to choose, and by the end of it, they realize they can do a little bit to help every cause,” Torres said. 

To raise money for the Super Stroll, heroiKs hosted a “Hunger Games” event last fall.

 The group invited Pitt student groups to participate in events inspired by the young-adult dystopian trilogy “The Hunger Games” on the Cathedral of Learning Lawn. Bryant said student groups registered with “tributes,” or volunteers. Members from JumpStart Pittsburgh, multicultural sorority Zeta Sigma Chi and the University of Pittsburgh Occupational Therapy Association participated in the event, as well as independent pairs of students. 

HeroiKs modeled the activities after events in the popular books, Bryant said, and tributes competed in different games, including obstacle courses with toy bows and arrows. 

In addition to event fundraising, the group contributes to local efforts such as Redd Up Zone, a citywide clean-up initiative. HeroiKs members began working with children last November on weekends to collect trash on a block in Homewood. 

According to Goerl, the group’s primary mission for the remainder of this year is recruitment.

With the founding members nearing graduation or having graduated already, Goerl anticipates a fresh turnout of students to carry on the leadership positions within heroiKs.

“We just hope that we get a new group of motivated individuals that kind of share the same mission that we do and continue to carry on and do the stroll,” Goerl said.