TOLEDO, Ohio — A group of University of Toledo students have combined their love for superheroes and helping others to assemble an organization aimed at doing good.
The students help children in hospitals, engage with other students in the community and raise money for charity.
UToledo Avengers Assemble student co-founders, Tyler Schwartz and Brayden Holloway, often dress up as Iron Man and Captain America with the goal of making kids happy in pediatric hospitals after they said they saw similarities to the heroes.
"It was just something, a passion we shared," Schwartz, the group's president, said. "Something we thought would be a unique way to interact with kids, something in a time where comic books are super relevant and the [Marvel Cinematic Universe] is super relevant."
It's a passion they said has grown to a whole team of over 70 super members.
This week, some of those heroes came together to create decorations for pediatric patients.
It's something that Schwartz, now a UToledo senior, envisioned since freshman year and having experienced his own loss.
"I had seen the impacts that touching someone's life in a really small way, like visiting my family members in the hospitals and just putting a smile on their face, brightening up their day, could have," he said.
Holloway, UTAA's vice president, shared some of those same feelings having lost his brother to cancer in 2008. He said when his brother was in the hospital, Brandon Inge, who played for the Detroit Tigers at the time, came in to visit.
"Just at 6 years old, it was incredible to see the light he brought to those kids' eyes just by visiting them, talking to them about their day," Holloway said.
UTAA's work also includes hosting community events to benefit local and national charities like Make-A-Wish, Veterans Matter and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
The group just held its second annual "Softball in September" event for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of NWO and is preparing for its second annual "Barbells for Boobs" breast cancer awareness event in November.
"Seeing the support we've had from Toledo for the last two years, being a young [organization] coming up, has just been phenomenal to get all of that involvement," Holloway said.
Schwartz is headed to med school next year, but he trusts the group will continue to be all about service with his executive team of secretary Holly Heck and treasurer Julia Topolski. Topolski said she is excited for what's next.
"Just seeing the growth and how much recognition and awareness you can spread as even just a small organization on campus, how much you can do for a community," Topolski said.
The UToledo Avengers Assemble also created decorations for its upcoming Halloween Bake sale, which you can visit in the UToledo student union on Halloween benefitting the Ronald McDonald House Charities.
More information on how to donate to their efforts to purchase a picnic table for the charity is located here.