Comic-Con@Home SuperVolunteer Challenge
We issued a challenge to our daily and department volunteers registered for Comic-Con 2020 to find a non-profit organization in their community and spend some time volunteering there. Many of our dedicated volunteers accepted the challenge! By emailing us with a photo or two and a little bit about their experience, they earned a "SuperVolunteer" badge! These volunteers are highlighted in a Toucan blog series every Tuesday and Thursday leading up to Comic-Con@Home.
We are so proud of their efforts and know that Comic-Con volunteers are truly dedicated to making the world a better place. This page features a gallery of all the SuperVolunteers that have been highlighted so far!
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Chioma I. helps give food bags out to people at two food banks in California and it looks like she is having fun while she is making a difference!
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James U. also donated blood. Great face mask, James!
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Danielle A. and Daniel A. both donated blood for the Comic-Con Museum blood drive at the San Diego Blood Bank. Danielle also hands out drive up school lunches at a local elementary school. Awesome!
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Wendy W. volunteers at a no-kill animal rescue facility in San Diego County. She interacts with the animals there and is making a difference in the lives of the animals, including this gorgeous cat!
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Betsy W. helps with projects at a senior center in Wasilla, Alaska. Seniors have been particularly hard hit during this pandemic, so well done, Betsy!
Fostering animals is of great benefit to the animal shelters that are over-crowded, to the animals themselves and to the people that eventually become their forever families:
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Brenda O. lives in Tijuana, Mexico and wants to be veterinarian. She is fostering these two beautiful cats.
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Denny is one of the dogs Kathy G. has fostered in Kennewick, WA. She gets satisfaction knowing she provides a safe place for homeless or abandoned pets. He is now in his "furever" home!
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Monica F. fostered this awesome girl in Northern California until she found her forever family recently. Yay! Happy ending!
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Deena S. fosters dogs in Houston, Texas. This adorable guy is Maverick. We hope he finds a forever home soon!
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Debbie S. not only volunteers in the Kitten Nursery at the San Diego Humane Society, she also fosters them!
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Chris G. said his experience fostering this dog, Chyna, was interesting and helped him overcome a tough time when COVID 19 struck. They helped each other!
Some of our SuperVolunteers are working with youth, some to enhance their summer experiences and some to help them move forward in their education:
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Albert A. collected schoolbooks and distributed yearbooks for a local middle school in Panorama City, CA. Awesomely done, Albert and that's a nice Comic-Con volunteer shirt you are wearing. And the other one appears to be a Slytherin shirt. Severus Snape would be proud!
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Courtney C. is volunteering with Girl Scouts San Diego. Here they are discussing anti-heroes in comics and real life. Nice way to work a comics theme into the program, Courtney. These are lucky scouts to be able to work with you. Well done!
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Joseph D. will be keeping kids busy at George Washington Academy in Snowflake, AZ over the summer. (Are there any snowflakes in Arizona?) They are doing Spy Week in these photos. Sounds like it's going to be a very interesting summer for those kids, Joseph!
Many volunteered to give the potential gift of life via a blood donation. We salute them:
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Ryan, M. gave blood and got a cool GOT poster by surprise because he told the Red Cross staff about the challenge. He also currently works at the Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital in Oakland CA. Thank you for your service on the hospital front lines and for the gift of blood, Ryan!!
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Claudia C. of La Puente, CA gave blood for the first time ever and said that she felt honored to donate her blood to somebody who needed it. We are honored to have you as a SuperVolunteer and, hopefully, a continuing blood donor, Claudia!
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Tamara T. gives blood in Tijuana, Mexico "like clockwork" every 8 weeks. She is definitely making a difference in many lives. Thanks for being a hero, Tamara!
Friends helping friends and neighbors. That is the theme for our 4th volume of SuperVolunteers and it is one that is important for everyone to remember to do when they can:
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Osiris M. volunteers for Puente de Amistad (Bridge of Friendship) in Tijuana, an organization that, among other things, builds houses for low-income families. Thanks to you and your team for doing an amazing thing for a family in need!
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Kaytee S. does a lot of volunteer activities for various organizations during the year, but most are on hiatus because of the pandemic. So, she's going out on her own to pick up trash in her neighborhood in San Diego. It's not glamorous (she says), but I bet her neighbors are extremely grateful to her. Way to go, Kaytee!!
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Lauren S. helped the people of Minneapolis by collecting donations of goods for families that were affected by the recent unrest there. They filled 2.5 U-Hauls, 2 truck beds and van! That is impressive. She and her family also spent a day volunteering at the McKinley Rose Garden in Sacramento to honor her grandfather who loved roses. Awesome, Lauren!
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Joanna M. is at high risk, so she can't go out and volunteer. Instead she has been making masks for friends, family, coworkers and first responders. I'd say that is just as important and effective as going out to an organization to volunteer. Thanks, Joanna!
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Vicky G. of El Cajon, CA takes her neighbor to the glaucoma center every six weeks for her check up and shot. Helping your neighbor to keep her sight is fabulous, Vicky. Well done!
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Paul B. chose Meals on Wheels because "It's nice to give a smile, a few minutes of your time, and have a chat about small things" with seniors who may not get a visitor all day. I'm thinking there are a lot more seniors in Otterville, IL who are smiling now, Paul!
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Theresa B. of San Diego, CA also makes masks. She does it for the Masks in Gratitude Project which distributes the masks to people who work in the agricultural fields to harvest food. The masks are vital to their safety. Thank you for your service to those important workers, Theresa!
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Linda A. would normally be rescuing animals from the street and taking care of them until she can find them a good home. But because of the pandemic she can't afford the vet bills right now. Her mom reminded her that she also goes out and does grocery shopping for her family and for two of her neighbors every two weeks. She has a cool cape that proves she is a Wonder Woman!
These SuperVolunteers made sure that a lot of people in California got food so they did not have to worry, at least for a while, about when their next meal will be.
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Keisha D. helped at the San Diego Food Bank by packing about 6,000 lbs of plums in one shift. That's a lot of plums! The food bank was plum lucky to have your help!
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Ben S. and Gerard T. also volunteered at the San Diego Food Bank. Gerard packed bags of rice and Ben sorted plums into net bags to go to distribution centers across San Diego. (More plums.) Ben also volunteers at Senior Food Distribution in Chula Vista. Keep up the good work, guys!!
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Maria N., Beirut T., Andrea T. Fernando T. and Rebeca V usually take their vacation during Comic-Con so they can volunteer. This year all five of them volunteered at the San Diego Food Bank. They have done giveaways in Hall H, so doing 540 boxes of food was easy-peasy. They fed seniors around San Diego County and they plan to keep doing more. Yay! Love the volunteer shirts and Comic-Con@Home badges!!
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Jennifer T. of San Diego volunteered at a food bank bagging produce and packing boxes of dry goods. Look at this magnificent heart-shaped potato! Just goes to show what a big heart she has for volunteering and helping people!
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Susan K. bagged and served 300 bags of food to needy residents in one of the outdoor pop-up locations set up by the San Francisco Food Pantry. Watermelon, potatoes, rice, apples, onions, riced cauliflower and milk. Hooray!
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Jeanette B., a professional photographer in Moreno Valley, CA, volunteers at Building Up Lives Foundation that offers not only hot meals, but also clothing, food and shelter resources. She also donates her photography services for their social media. Excellent, Jeanette!
