For 23 days in 2022, Yuri Williams and Rodney Smith Jr. donned various superhero costumes while trekking through all 50 states with the goal of bringing joy to children and families that needed it most.
The trip was not the first of its kind. Williams’ Long Beach-based nonprofit, A Future Superhero & Friends, has made the tour of the United States several times since 2017, visiting children with disabilities, special needs and life-threatening illnesses.
A Future Superhero & Friends has blessed hundreds of families with gifts during the holidays, as well as hosting blood drives, movie nights, toy drives, and bringing supplies to veterans and homeless people. Williams and Smith not only bring a slew of gifts with them while they visit homes and hospitals, but they wear “screen-accurate” costumes of popular superheroes and other characters while visiting children.
Williams was inspired to start the nonprofit after his mother Lynda C. Hubbard passed away after battling cancer in 2009. He faced a five-year depression after his mother died, which drastically improved once he started bringing joy to children with illnesses and their families.
Williams started his journey dressed as Spiderman at a Miller Children’s Hospital 5K in Long Beach, where he met a young boy with brain cancer and a short life expectancy. Williams rented a movie theater out so the boy and other children with illnesses in the community could see the new Spiderman movie. He also dressed up as Spiderman for the boy’s birthday that year.
“It keeps me from being depressed knowing that my mom is proud of me, because she taught me all this stuff and I’m just doing what she taught me and uplifting these parents and their children for the time being,” Williams said. “I saw what she was going through when she was battling cancer, so I can only imagine what these parents are going through with their kids.”
Since then, Williams and Smith have been traveling throughout the country visiting homes and hospitals to spread joy. For the first time ever, the community is invited to witness this state-spanning journey and learn about the lives of those impacted by A Future Superhero & Friends through a documentary-style film “Hope for the Holidays.”
Williams’ directorial debut follows the two friends during their trip, while delving into various stories and lives of the families they visit.
“People need to see how these parents put these kids before themselves,” Williams said of his reason for making the film. “You shouldn’t be just worried about yourself all the time, you should be worried about your neighbors, your family.”
“Hope for the Holidays” will premiere at the Art Theater of Long Beach on Aug. 10 at 3 p.m. Ticket purchases for the film will help Williams and Smith purchase more gifts for children and complete another tour of the states this holiday season.
Each ticket purchase comes with popcorn, a drink, a raffle ticket and a swag bag. The first 100 people lined up for the film will receive a “Hope for the Holidays” T-shirt. Attendees can line up for the film at 2 p.m. and entrance to the theater will begin at 2:45 p.m.
Tickets for “Hope for the Holidays” can be purchased on A Future Superhero’s website. Those who cannot attend the film can make a donation on the same website.
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