Operation Superhero gears up to collect Halloween costumes for kids impacted by wildfires

Julie Etchell Battles and a group of volunteers are collecting Halloween costumes for children impacted by wildfires, just as they did in the days following last October’s firestorm that destroyed thousands of people’s homes and forced even more to flee.

This year they have a little more time to gather costumes for the kids. Although the skies, at least locally, aren’t filled with smoke, the need for Operation Superhero Sonoma County remains and continues to grow beyond the North Bay, Etchell Battles said.

“There are so many kids that our event can help,” she said. “We are also planning to reach out to survivors of the Redding and Mendocino County fires this year.”

Etchell Battles, a realtor with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Wine Country Group, said Operation Superhero, powered by a small platoon of volunteers, collected some 5,000 donated costumes last year. All but 400 were handed out for free to kids whose lives were upended by the fires.

Some lost homes in the fire, while others had parents who lost jobs or wages, or simply couldn’t afford a costume during that tumultuous time.

The effort began with a Facebook group that attracted within days more than 1,200 people. The goal initially was to collect costumes for kids who lost homes, but the project quickly expanded as the disaster rippled through the community.

The group’s name was inspired by the heroics of first responders and neighbors who knocked on thousands of doors to evacuate residents during the fires, as well as those who rallied in the days and weeks that followed.

“It paid homage to everything that Sonoma County was fighting for,” Etchell Battles said. Firefighter costumes were among the most popular last year, although they were in short supply, she said.

It didn’t take long before others got involved in the effort, some of them remotely.

In addition to Etchell Battles, the project was founded by three other women - Kara Urbano of Wisconsin, Amber Bruski of Massachusetts and Kelly Lareau of Washington. All have ties to Sonoma County, either through family or having grown up here.

Bruski, who grew up in Petaluma, helped organize donation drop-off and pick-up locations via the internet.

“Our goal was basically to promote joy for the children who had lost everything,” she said. “This year, it’s going to be better organized … we’re starting to organize for distribution centers.”

Etchell Battles said she’s compelled to help again this year because she’s not the kind of person who can just stand by, though few would blame her if she did. She learned last year she had Stage 4 breast cancer, which since has metastasized to her bones.

She said she’s fighting it and trying to be strong for her kids, while trying to do something for others. She said it’s a blessing to able to help others, even in a small way.

“I’ve always been community oriented,” Etchell Battles said. “Everyone has a time in their life when they are in need and a time in their life when they’re able to give. And I’ve been in both places.”