PEORIA, Ill. – It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s a…window cleaner?
But not just any window cleaners. These are super heroes.
The employees of Clearly Windows, after a COVID-19-caused hiatus, are once again donning super hero costumes while cleaning the OSF Children’s Hospital of Illinois windows, while some of the patients got the chance to watch.
One was Captaian America Monday; the other — Rhett Winford — was Batman.
“It’s pretty amazing,” said Winford. “You get to slip into that you…not really are on a normal basis. It’s something out of the comfort zone — I don’t like dressing up. But, for the kids, I love doing it, and it gives me an excuse to do it.”
Bill Garcia, Division Manager for Clearly Window, talks about when he recorded cell phone video on a similar visit last October.
“A little guy was on the ledge tapping on the glass. He just kept saying ‘Superhero!’ and ‘Batman!,’” said Garcia. “When you see that, you know you’ve made a dent in maybe their day, maybe a week, so it does. It gets emotional.”
And yes…Batman and Captain America were still cleaning windows as they waved at child patients — after all, a squeegee can fit in Batman’s utility belt.
Winford says no matter how bad the kids may feel, they light up when they see a superhero. And, as they recover, maybe they can start to feel like superheroes, too.
(Will Stevenson/1470 & 100.3 WMBD)
