A Double Helping Of Super

A Squeegee Cleaning Services of Chelsea window washer dressed as Superman flexes for Reginae Bush, 5, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013, at Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham, Ala. Window washers dressed as Superman, Spider-man, Batman and Captain America scaled down the 15-story hospital building stopping at every floor to see the kids.

Alabama hospital patients greeted by comic heroes (Birmingham, Ala.) - Patients at Children’s of Alabama waved and fist-bumped a few comic book heroes through the hospital’s windowpanes as the characters rappelled down the side of the 15-story building. Employees from Squeegee Cleaning Services of Chelsea dressed up as Superman, Batman, Spiderman and Captain America Tuesday and rappelled down the building to greet children on each floor. The visits were part of the hospital’s “Celebrating Our Heroes” week, which is part of an event at the hospital aimed at raising awareness of childhood cancer and sickle cell.

Some of the patients were dressed up in superhero costumes themselves, donning capes and masked that matched the heroes on the other side of the glass. Squeegee Cleaning Services partnered with Children's of Alabama to do the bi-annual window cleaning for the building, and made it more exciting for the young patients by wearing superhero costumes on the job. 

Superheroes Wash Windows at Geisinger (PLAINS TOWNSHIP) — Some might say that a hospital is full of superheroes, people who save lives and prevent illness. But a few real superheroes visited the children at Geisinger Wyoming Valley near Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday. It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman! He’s working side by side with Spiderman, leaping the side of Geisinger Wyoming Valley near Wilkes-Barre in a single bound. “Today, we have our annual window washing, but with a special twist,” said Geisinger Chief Administrative Officer John Buckley.

The twist is the window washers are actually employees of a window washing company in Harrisburg. But on this day, they are dressed up as superheroes for the kids’ enjoyment. To the youngsters watching from inside, like little Kaylee Law of Jenkins Township, these are real superheroes. “It means the world to me because she gets to see something that she’s never saw up close like that before, so she was really in shock,” said Kaylee’s dad Michael Law.

It’s not just the children who get excited. “The caregiving team really gets a kick out of it themselves. We have a little bit of the debate about whose favorite superhero there is,” said Buckley. Making people happy is a lot to live up to, but not difficult for Spiderman or Superman. After all, with great power, comes great responsibility. “I never even turned around and seen what everyone else looking at us. She had my attention as much as I had her attention I bet,” said window washer Aaron “Superman” Jones. “She seemed so happy. She feels so much better. Since yesterday, she was really sick, and now today she’s more energetic, more active, more happy,” said Law. No doubt thanks to these heroes, who put smiles on faces faster than a speeding bullet.

Holy High Wire

Four of the strongest people on the planet came to pass some of their strength on to the patients.

Superheroes visit Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital: Young patients had some special visitors Monday at the Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital. A crowd of people formed outside the hospital, looking to the sky, pointing at something. It was not a bird, a plane or even Life Lion, but superheroes Captain America, Batman, Spiderman and Superman.

Four of the strongest people on the planet came to pass some of their strength on to the patients. "Once we went over they started clapping for us, the kids started waving. We waved back, it was great," said Mark Barnaba, who dressed up as Superman. "I'm kind of into the comic thing. I think I like Thor the best, but I like these ones, too," said Paige Chubb, a 14-year-old from Carlisle who has been undergoing cancer treatments all year.

The superheroes used some of their muscle to propel down the sides of the hospital. The men behind the masks were window washers from North Eastern Building Maintenance; ordinary men with a super goal of helping brave little patients forget they are in a hospital.

"I just knew it would be perfect because just seeing the children smile, it just makes it all worth it," Barnaba said. "It makes me happy to see that people are so kind and are able to do this. I love it. It's just really cool," Chubb said. The idea began with a hospital employee. North Eastern Building Maintenance jumped on board and even paid for the superhero costumes.

Window washers dress in costumes at Pennsylvania children's hospital (HERSHEY, PA) - Some popular super heroes traded in their special powers for window washing equipment and converged on Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital. Their mission, brighten the day of some of the youngest patients. One of those is C.J. Hoover who has been through so much in his first 17 months. The young boy fought a fierce battle with leukemia in March, and knocked the cancer into remission. But he's still back in the hospital almost every week for chemo and check-ups. "We're not in this alone and it's good to know there are people around us that support us and provide care and even a small thing like a smile," said Clayton Hoover, C.J.'s dad.

On Monday, C.J. and other young patients were surprised to see super heroes scaling the size of the hospital. A lot of the children were probably too young to fully appreciate the gesture, but their parents took it to heart. For a minute, the super heroes helped wipe their worries away. "We're in a comfortable place, we'll get through this and C.J. will come out just fine," Hoover said. In true superhero fashion, after saving the day, they quietly slipped away, off to their next mission. But they hoped to leave the young patients empowered to fight their health battles with the same kind of courage that comes with a cape.

Spiderman gives the high sign as he starts his descent down the walls of Texas Children's Hospital.

Holy highwire! Superheroes scale the walls of Texas Children's Hospital and clean up -  igh-flying superheroes Batman, Spiderman, Captain America and Superman thrilled patients at Texas Children's Hospital when they descended the slippery slopes of the 21-story building in the heart of the Texas Medical Center.


More than mere super Samaritans, these guys with muscles rippling and capes flying were super window washers with their buckets and squeegees in hand. As the costumed characters bounced from window to window, one young fellow exclaimed, "That's dangerous!" From his hospital bed, another youngster enthused, "Those superheroes were so awesome." In celebration of the visit, the youngsters worked on arts and crafts projects focusing on the superheroes. This was one surprise that patients and parents as well as hospital staff won't soon forget.

Superhero/super window washers prepare at Texas Children's Hospital.

Wolverine Scratches Glass At Kids Hospital

Wolverine scratches glass. Get a waiver signed!

Superheroes descend on CHEO (Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario): Imagine being a child stuck in the hospital with a serious illness and all of a sudden Spiderman appears outside your window. And he’s not alone. Batman, Superman, Captain America and Wolverine are also crawling all over the building. That’s exactly what happened at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Tuesday. The costumed crime fighters were actually grime fighters – window washers dressed up as some of Earth’s mightiest heroes.

That distinction didn’t matter to the delighted children watching it all through the windows. Young Alex Capretta was sporting a Batman t-shirt. But he says Spiderman was his favourite “because Spiderman shoots webs.” The spectacle coincided with the kick-off to CHEO’s “be a hero for CHEO” campaign to raise awareness of this weekend’s CHEO Telethon. President and CEO Alex Munter says it’s a time when “everybody can be a superhero for CHEO.”

It was also a special day for the window washers. Martin Regimbald of Cody Window Cleaners says he’s never seen the crew so excited to go to work. “They’ve been showing off some pictures of their costumes. So they were all looking forward to this day,” he says. One, who simply went by the name Wolverine, said the joy he saw on children’s faces almost brought him to tears. But “wolverines don’t cry” he adds.

Organizers hope it will inspire everyone to be a hero and make a donation. The TD Bank Group is making it even easier. It’s encouraging people to visit CHEO’s Facebook page, or tweet using the hashtag #hero4cheo. If the campaign reaches 10,000 likes, shares, comments and tweets, TD will donate $10,000. The CHEO Telethon runs this weekend, June 8th and 9th, on CTV Ottawa. 

Superhero Window Washers - A lot of children could look out the window and see, is it a bird, a plane, or a window washer flying by just for them? It is proof that everyone has a superpower, even if it's just giving someone a brighter day. The windows still have to get cleaned. It was a natural, once somebody thought of it, to put the window cleaners in costumes. Give the kids a show. So, it's a trend, or supertrend? ..which started in Britain. Though for superman & these other guys, it's truth, justice and the American way. If you think you see ropes holding these guys up, you're looking at it the wrong way.

Window Cleaners Are New Craze In Super Heroes

Grime fighter.

Superheroes wash windows at Lurie Children’s Hospital: Super heroes make spirits fly for some children in the hospital — you could call them “grime fighters!” Window washers from Corporate Cleaning Services showed up at Lurie Children’s Hospital dressed as Captain America, Batman, and Spider-Man. The kids loved it, and so did the workers. They’d never done this before but thought it would be a great way to bring some joy to the kids. The three superheroes cleaned windows on the 11th and 12th floors, ending with the Crown Sky Garden. Superhero window washers have also been spotted at children’s hospitals in Pittsburgh, Memphis and other cities. Click the pictures to enlarge.

Latino Heroes: Window Washers and Super Heroes All in One: When you ask Chicagoans Roberto Duran, Pedro Castro and Alejandro Pantoja what they do for a living be prepared for an answer that will put a smile on your face. Not only are these men window washers, they are also Super Heroes especially to the sick children at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital located in downtown Chicago.  The three men are employed by Corporate Cleaning Services, Chicago’s largest all-union window washing company.  When called to hero duty they don super hero suits and scale the massive structure, squeegee in hand. You would think just scaling the massive skyscraper building would be enough to be considered a hero.

Spider-Man joined forces with High-Rise Window Cleaning to take on the force of evil known as dirty windows, and brought some much-needed smiles to sick children in the process.

Afterwards, he scaled over to the windows of several patients who were too sick to join the others in the playroom.

After rappelling down the roof, the webbed hero began his grime-fighting duties by cleaning the windows outside a kid-filled playroom on the 8th floor of the hospital.

Rob Powers , who has worked at High-Rise Window Cleaning for more than 10 years, will go back to being a mild-mannered window cleaner tomorrow, but says the smiles he brought to St. Joseph's Children's Hospital today is something he'll never forget.

Spider Man swoops in to visit kids in St. Joseph's Children's Hospital: Tampa, Florida -- For a dozen of Tampa Bay's sickest children, something super was about to swoop in. Eight stories up Thursday, kids from St. Joseph's Children's Hospital -- used to visits from doctor after doctor and nurse after nurse -- got to marvel at their friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. In his red-and-blue suit, the superhero rappelled down from the main hospital's roof and smiled as he lowered himself to a ledge right outside a big playroom window. Smiling back were kids like Nicholas, who just got out of ICU for the first time in days. And Cedric, who grabbed a marker to make a sign -- "GO SPIDERMAN!" 

Shelia Keller arranged to have this seemingly ordinary, mild-mannered man with a window washing business show off his secret super power -- the power to help these kids smile. "It changes the healing environment," said Keller, a manager on the hospital's Environmental Services team. "Being happy, smiling, and laughing is such a healing thing for our families." Spider-Man wouldn't reveal his true identity to us. He would say he's originally from Connecticut and has been washing windows for 29 years. "And I've been called Spider-Man for almost 29 years, even before I put the suit on. Just 'cause people see me rappelling down, they're like, 'Wow, that's cool!'" the superhero said.

Spider-Man's Uncle Ben told him, "With great power comes great responsibility." His power is having the guts to work high on a ledge with a smile so big it practically shows through his suit. His responsibility, he says, is to honor the real heroes -- the truly brave children, their families, and the people who care for them. "It's worth it," he said. "They're worth it, seeing their smiles."

Clearwater Spider-Man Featured On NBC Nightly News: Jon Powers of Clearwater, a window washer who dresses up as Spider-Man, is in the national spotlight for good deeds. It turns out that Spider-Man lives in Clearwater. If you've driven past All Children's Hospital in St. Pete, you might have noticed Spider-Man crawling along the building's windows. Sorry to bust Spider-Man's identity, but this isn't Peter Parker, but he is sure a hero. NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams featured on Monday night's broadcast Spider-Man, who is Jon Powers of Clearwater, a window washer of High Rise Window Cleaning who uses ingenuity and bravery and maybe even some Spidey senses.

The piece was part of the Making a Difference features which showcases remarkable deeds people do out of kindness. "I make kids smile," Powers told NBC. "They make me smile." Powers is a part of a team of other window washers, who have teamed up as a Justice League of sorts, mixed with The Avengers, featuring Captain America, Superman and Batman taking to the windows at All Children's Hospitals in St. Pete, Fort Myers and other children's hospitals around the country, NBC reported.

"When they see me work with the suction cup, you can actually go along the building and get a lot of windows," Powers told NBC in its Web-only extra. "That's what gives the illusion of Spiderman when moving around, it looks like we're just grabbing on." Holly Ott, a Childlife Care Coordinator for the hospital, told NBC that the kids love Spider-Man. "It's not everyday you see an iconic legend like Spider-Man climbing up your window," Ott told NBC.

Super heroes brighten sick kids' days: If one clings to the side of a building for a living, why not let an alter ego make a child's day? At All-Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla. - which cares for more than 200 kids -everything changed one day when superheroes came from the sky to chase away the fear and sadness that come with being sick. "It was really cool and exciting." Kaiden DeGroat, 7, who loves Spiderman, was there that day for treatment, and suddenly felt a whole lot better seeing his hero in person. "Usually you only see him in movies, but seeing him in real life is just really cool!" he exclaimed. 

At children's hospitals around the country, they start at the roof and rappel the walls. Window washers dressed as super-heroes -doing their part to make kids feel better. In Memphis, it was two Spidermen and Captain America. In Charlotte, there were four of them. In Ft. Myers, it was a dynamic trio... and at Christmas time, Santa and his elves came to clean, and to wave at the kids inside. 

For the children it was magic...and very good medicine. "Absolutely, any time we have the opportunity to help kids feel more positive, it really benefits their healing," said Childlife Clinical Coordinator Holly Ott. When asked why he was glad he did it, Window Washer answered: "'Cause I know I made their day a little better, and they made my day a little better." Powers, of High-Rise Window Cleaning in Clearwater, Fla., returned to his regular clothes after his day in costume. He will never forget the girl without hair who peered back at him through her hospital window. "She just had the biggest smile ever when I came down that wall and tapped on the window. That's the best part of the day, right there," he said. Superheroes - all of them - in real life.

DES MOINES — Quad-City Times reporters and photographers won three first-place awards for their work Friday from the Iowa Associated Press Managing Editors organization. Staff members also won two first-place awards in the Iowa Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contests. Photographer Larry Fisher won first place in business photos for “Spider-Man at work,” a set of photos of a window washer dressed as Spider-Man.

See more here, here & here. 

Social media is tangled up in Spider-Man's web as a tiny version of the superhero surprised President Obama at the White House. In the now-viral image, a small boy dressed as Spider-Man is seen slinging an imaginary web in President Obama's direction. During the "invasion" Obama threw his hands in the air and winced back as the miniature Spidey stared him down.

Window Cleaning Super Heroes & The Story Behind Them

Jeff Henderson, dressed as Batman, and Tim Taggart, dressed as Spider-Man, rappel down the west face of the main tower of Ministry Saint Joseph's Hospital on Monday. Click to enlarge.

Super heroes surprise hospital pediatric patients: Super heroes delighted children and staff members at Ministry Saint Joseph’s Children’s Hospital by rappelling down the side of the building and greeting pediatric patients and their families Monday. Window washers Jeff Henderson, Tim Taggart and Patrick Wallin of Brite-Way Window Cleaning volunteered to dress in Batman, Spider-Man and Captain America costumes, respectively, and lower themselves down the side of the hospital’s tower to the children’s patio.

Lindsey Welch, a child life specialist at Ministry Saint Joseph's Children's Hospital, holds an iPad so Tim Taggart, from left, obscured, Patrick Wallin and Jeff Henderson can talk with Lakken Burzynski, 10, while visiting the hospital.

Hospital staff members approached Brite-Way about the idea after hospital facilities director Randy Wagner presented a video of super-hero clad window washers rappelling at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. “We’ve worked with Brite-Way for a number of years,” said Julie Schafer, secretary for environmental services at Ministry Saint Joseph’s Hospital. “We’re glad we’ve developed a relationship with them that we felt comfortable asking them to do something out of the ordinary.” “It’s toward Christmas, and there’s a lot of little ones in the hospital, and they aren’t going to have that great of a time,” said Taggart, who wore the Spider-Man costume he used for his grandson’s birthday party.

Jeff Henderson, dressed as Batman, waves to people as he rappels down the outside of the tower of Ministry Saint Joseph's Hospital on Monday.

Schafer said patients and hospital staff members were excited to see the super heroes, and families called the hospital Monday morning to find out if Batman, Spider-Man and Captain America still planned to visit despite fog and light rain. Pediatric patient Logan Soderlund of Rhinelander watched the climbing ropes excitedly as he waited for the super heroes to appear on the children’s patio. “He was definitely surprised,” said Logan’s father, Sean Soderlund. “We watched ‘Avengers’ last night.”

The super heroes greeted and took pictures with patients and families at Ministry Saint Joseph’s Children’s Hospital before descending the hospital’s main tower. Wallin, who dressed as Captain America, said it was nice to do something for the community and brighten the children’s day. “I’m really happy to be part of this,” Wallin said. Taggart said he hopes to participate in super hero events yearly.

Brightway Window Service staff dressed as superheros for a days work outside of St. Joseph's Hospital's pediatrics unit.

Superheros save the day for hospitalized children:  It was a super experience for some children in Marshfield today, as they saw some superheros outside their hospital windows. Heidi Giese is St. Joseph’s Hospital’s Manager of Child Life Services. She says a routine building maintenance project was a lot of fun for about seventeen hospitalized children in their pediatric unit.  She says, "The guys cleaning the windows dressed up as Spiderman, Batman, and Captain America and they rappelled down the side of the building so that all of our pediatric patients in the building were able to see that.”

Giese says it was a special way to brighten the day for some kids who are not feeling well.  “A little two-year-old that was looking at the window and looking outside. When they jumped down onto the backyard patio, his eyes got huge.” St. Joseph’s Hospital had heard of another children’s hospital doing this with great success, and contacted Brightway Window Service to see if they would put on the costumes... which they gladly did for the kids.

ANS Memphis window washer Steve Oszeanic, as Captain America, high above the ground to raise spirits of sick kids at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital.

The story behind the story. Why window cleaners dressing as Super-Heroes are becoming so popular. See the blog on this event here.

Super hero Randall 'Rico' Simmons and his mother Tina in his Helen DeVos Children's Hospital room.

Why Rico is a superhero (Grand Rapids, West Michigan): Super heroes were rappelling down the wall of glass windows on the 14-story Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, five daring window washers dressed as Hulk, Flash, Superman, Spider-Man and Captain America. Veteran MLive and Grand Rapids Press photographer Chris Clark stood below that day, snapping spectacular photos alongside other local media. Then instinct took over and told him one thing. "Get inside." What Chris wanted to find was what journalists at MLive always want to show you: What's happening on the inside. Where it matters most. The photos he captured show photojournalism at its finest. Another special moment in the life of West Michigan was captured, documented, shared.

Randall 'Rico' Simmons and his mother Tina in his Helen DeVos Children's Hospital room Wednesday, November 14, 2012. The Howard City teen is fighting bone cancer. "He's my super hero," said his mom.

There was one photo so poignant it stayed with me and became a part of me. It makes me happy and thankful each time I think of it, which is often. It shows a 13-year-old boy, Randall "Rico" Simmons, holding a simple message he printed on note paper and then pressed against the window for the superheroes to see. "Give me 5! " the message said. The same photo shows Rico's hand touching the glass inside, met by a superhero's gloved hand on the outside. The arm of another superhero reaches up for the next high five with Rico. I like to think of that quartet of hands as a bouquet,

I wanted to meet Rico, the young man whose simple sign touched me. So last week Chris Clark and I went back to DeVos Children's hospital to see Rico and his mom, Tina Simmons, to tell you and show you more about this boy and his family. Rico is a Tri County Middle School student who's been fighting cancer for much of the year, through multiple rounds of chemotherapy.  A tumor in his hip shattered his bone, so the doctors had to build Rico a new hip. After 18 hours of surgery on Sept. 6, Rico emerged with custom-made left hip, sized for him to grow into, and held together with 19 screws, 3 plates and 2 rods. His incision stretches from his back rib cage to his ankle.

The photo that the public loved. Super heroes fly outside DeVos Children's Hospital

The hospital became Rico's and Tina's second home for the past three months. Finally, on Nov. 15, Rico and Tina got to go home to Howard City, reuniting with Dad, Aaron, and with sister, Julia, 17. Rico is continuing with round three of chemotherapy to fight the cancer. He will be getting around with the help of a wheelchair and walker, and he is staying up on his school work with the help of an at-home teacher. School is important to Rico. He has his goal firmly fixed: college. "Yale or Harvard," Rico said of his top choices. His career interests: "Art, music, architectural engineering or video game engineering."

Randall 'Rico' Simmons tries on "super hero" glasses, a gift from child-life specialist Rhys VanDemark, in his Helen DeVos Children's Hospital room. Click to enlarge.

"He's my superhero," Tina said about her son last week as she sat on his hospital bed shortly before leaving for home. "If I could just have a pinch of his strength, I think I could conquer the world," she said, her pride and love beaming in her eyes. She said Rico has been a good mentor to other children fighting cancer at the hospital. Rico said it was surprising to learn the photo had touched so many people. "I didn't know how popular the photo was to be honest. It was crazy when I heard it was all over school, too." The photo gallery was popular on MLive, and thousands of you viewed, liked and shared these photos on Facebook and elsewhere. I wanted Rico to know how much he touched me and our readers. About how it's my favorite photo of the year. Because it shows us at our best. When we try to reach. Touch. Connect.

Randall, "Rico" Simmons, 13, of Howard City high fives Captain America and Spiderman from the 9th floor of DeVos Children's Hospital. The Flash, Spiderman, Captain America, The Hulk and Superman flew outside the hospital windows in Grand Rapids, Mich.

"I just remember idolizing superheroes when I was little," Rico said. That's why he reached out that day when the superheroes passed his window. "It gave me a flashback to when he was little," Tina said, remembering how he pumped his fist when the "Give me 5!" sign worked. "To see him so happy after he gave that fist pump; I had tears -- I couldn't help it." "That's my Randall," she said.