Superheroes Helping Our Community!

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It is superheroes spreading love and cheer in the Northwest Florida area. Who are these superheroes? What is their mission? How can you contact them?

Costumers with a Cause is a non-profit organization in Florida that has the goal of bringing smiles, fun, and support to children who are hospitalized, and suffering from chronic/terminal illnesses or disabilities. This organization is 100% volunteer-based and has five different branches across the United States. I recently got a chance to speak with the lead of the Northwest Florida branch.

In our conversation, Cheyenne Warren shared her excitement about the organization. “We raise money for charity through cosplay.” In 2024, it is estimated, that there will be over 10 million cosplay enthusiasts in the world. Superman, Batman, Captain America, Wonder Woman and more have all been known to help the organization. These volunteers donate their time and energy to spread joy in parades, hospital visits, charity events, movie premieres, library events, and even Zoom/Virtual meetings.

“Normally, each of these events will have a charity that receives everything that gets donated to that cause”, stated Cheyenne. “We change charities all the time. All of the charities we work with are in the Northwest Florida area.” She continues, “We are the whole Northwest Florida branch. We go to schools and do educational things with the children, we will read to children at libraries, and we will visit children’s hospitals. Sometimes we make special trips to the homes of children who are terminally or chronically ill and cannot leave their house.”

Cheyenne’s passion was overflowing as she continued speaking about how she got started. “I went to Pensacon, an annual cosplay event in Pensacola, Florida, one year and Costumers with a Cause had a booth set up, raising money for charity. I started talking with them, and they wanted to start a branch in Northwest Florida. I signed up and after speaking with them, they thought I would be a good fit to lead the new branch. At first, I wanted them to find someone else, but left the door open if they exhausted their other options.” She continued, “After a few months they came back and said they didn’t even bother finding anyone else because it was going to be me.”

There were growing pains in the beginning. “We didn’t have members, and we couldn’t get into events and the events we did get into, I was the only one going, then I would have one other person going with me.” Cheyenne continues, “Then all of a sudden we got more members, and we got really popular with different events. People started contacting us, and then we didn’t have enough members for all the events we were getting calls for. Our name started getting out there, and now we are building up and getting more and more members. It is so great to see all that change.”

Thanks go out to these superhero role models and thanks them for giving hope to children where it may have been all but lost. If you believe in this cause and want to help, donations can be made at:

Costumers with a Cause

PO Box 120204

Clermont, FL 34712-0204

If you are in Bay County and are interested in donating your time or would like to explore the services of these cosplay specialists you can reach them at costumerswithacause.org and email at c.warren@costumerswithacause.org. The Northwest Florida branch has its own Facebook page as well at https://www.facebook.com/CostumersWithACause and the Northwest Florida group page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/756327421722406/