Here's how you can be a hero and help sick kids, too

• Family tragedy partly inspired group
• Pandemic prevented them from visiting hospitals
• Toy drive benefiting KGH happening March 12

For one charity group in Kelowna, its superpower is raising spirits. By dressing up as iconic pop-culture characters, Random Acts of Costuming’s (RAOC) goal is to bring hope to those who need it.

Founder Scott Burke started the group about six years ago with his daughter. While the passion started early in his life thanks to his mom running a costume business out of their basement, a family tragedy led to the group’s creation.

“We wanted to give back to the nurses and so forth that helped my granddaughter when she passed away,” he told Kelowna10, dressed in a custom-made Captain America costume, complete with the iconic shield.

His granddaughter was diagnosed with a rare progressive brain cancer called diffuse midline glioma.

The family spent a lot of time at the hospital, and decided to bring a little extra and come as beloved characters.

The organization grew to include more volunteers to visit the hospital, attend other events, and host fundraisers.

Ranging from comic book superheroes to Disney characters, each volunteer stays in character while interacting with the public, challenging their acting skills.

Burke said even his 80-year-old father participates, too, by dressing as Batman or Mr. Incredible.

Given the length of time in costume and functionality required to get around the hospitals, the costumes are quite high quality. Extra time is taken to keep up the act, with Burke making his shield our of solid aluminum as sometimes kids want to test how sturdy it is.

Isaac also volunteers with ROAC, and was sporting a custom-made Spiderman suit when Kelowna10 caught up with him. He recalled one memorable reaction when a kid saw him dressed as the wall-crawler.

“He comes up to me and just gives me a hug. Doesn’t say anything, just holds on for dear life. The only words he said to me was ‘you’re my hero," Isaac said. “That reminded me that what I do has an impact on people, whether I realize it or not.”

The group welcomes new members. Due to the pandemic, the RAOC haven’t been able to visit the hospital, but they are hoping to change that soon.

On March 12, RAOC is hosting a toy drive at Sweetnam’s Nik Nacks. The group is encouraging people to drop off new, unopened toys to be donated to the KGH children’s ward.

People can also support with monetary donations to help KGH buy video game consoles. This helps as those toys can be sanitized and reused easier than toys made with fabric.