Today we’d like to introduce you to Gus Matos.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Gus. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Heroes United Az started in 2014 when Johnny Carwell Jr. and I had the idea to start Arizona’s first-ever cross-genre cosplay charity group. Prior to Heroes United Az, all of the local cosplay community groups focused solely on one genre. We asked ourselves, “why apply for all these different groups or limit your fandom genre cosplays?” I looked around the country and saw that there were many groups that were already do cross-genre cosplay, so I said “why not Arizona?” that is how Heroes United Az was born. Our dream was to eventually be able to be a 501c3 non-profit and host our own events for a charity of our choosing. We started with only five members and went to as many community events as we could and recruited at every convention we were fortunate enough to be invited to attend. Next thing we know, we had 20+ members with superhero, Disney, anime, and beyond cosplays.
In September 2015, I met Detective Sean Reavie through a mutual friend. Sean had just started Superhero September to benefit advocacy centers that help give kids back their childhood after traumatic experiences. I joined him on one of the shopping sprees. We immediately hit it off from our love of pop culture and pro wrestling. He started the event with only volunteers from police dept and friends with store-bought costumes. He challenged me to get as many heroes as I could for the next year’s kick-off I asked him “how many do you want?” he said “10-15” we showed up with 25 members strong everyone from Batman to Captain America and even The Incredibles. Since then, we have continued to grow the event every year.
However, in December 2017, Sean mentioned to me that the centers that helped the kids we were supporting would run out of items by the end of the year since they were seeing so many cases. I asked Sean, “then why limit ourselves to just September?” “Let’s see if can maybe do two, three, or even four events a year.” Heroes United Az were already doing more than 20 events a year, so why not do them for a great cause hosting them ourselves. I have a background in pro wrestling, so I made some calls and sent messages to all of my former contacts in the local wrestling scene. Jay Garland answered the call and was able to supply us with not only a ring, but a whole card of wrestlers we then had our very first event to help kids outside of Superhero September, hence we had Superhero Slam in March of 2018. The event did have a few speed bumps. However, we were able to pull it off and were able to donate a significant amount to the centers.
From there in January of 2019, Sean registered our LLC for Put On The Cape and thus, we were off to the races to help as many advocacy centers as we could. Here we are less than a year later, we have been able to raise over 150K to benefit 100% to advocacy centers. We have hosted a 5K this past May 2019 and a golf tournament in September of 2019. Our next 5K is already scheduled for March of 2020 registration is already on our website and Eventbrite. So that is our and my story to date. We invite all to visit our website and social media. We are always open to new members and volunteers.
Has it been a smooth road?
Achieving your goals and helping others always will have it’s speed bumps. We had challenges along the way; however, through the hard work of our members and board of directors, we have been able to overcome them. We have had a lot of support from the community at large that believe in our cause.
We’d love to hear more about your organization.
We are a non-profit that benefits advocacy centers all over the valley and a cosplay group that is a cross-genre. We are the only one of our kind that 100% benefits the centers we support. I am proud of the sacrifice all of our members make to help the foundation achieve it’s goals and having fun along the way. Also, how the members treat each other as family. A lot of close friendships have been born because of the membership into the organization.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I like the sense of community and giving back to the less fortunate how it has a small-town feeling even though it’s a larger city. What I least like? The heat all year round. I was told, “you will get acclimated.” Fifteen years later and I am still waiting.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.putonthecape.org
- Email: gmatos@putonthecape.org and co.huaz@gmail.com
- Instagram: @heroesunitedaz and @putonthecape
Image Credit:
Tony Julius Photography
Suggest a story: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
How do you think about risk? Does work-life balance really exist? How do you go about making friends as an adult? Check out perspectives on these topics and more on Shoutout Arizona.
