We love a good cos!
Cosplayers around the country have historically given back to their communities by dressing up and making appearances at local children's hospitals and special events. Now, with the current state of the pandemic, non-essential visits to hospitals have been put on pause, which leaves many in the community wondering how they can help.
Enter Adaptive Advocates, Inc!
Why we do what we do
Every child deserves to realize their dream of dressing up as their favorite super hero, princess, or villain. Maybe they have a favorite character on TV or someone they idolize and emulate?
Oftentimes, ready-made costumes of their favorite characters are sold "out-of-the-box" and can't accommodate the individual needs of each unique child.
Capes For A Cos is uniting cosplayers and volunteers in the New York area to create custom built, epic costumes for children who don't normally see themselves represented in the world of dress up. We want to give children with physical or developmental disabilities the chance to be the star for the day. To receive a complementary costume that is not only representative of their favorite hero, but a one-of-a-kind creation, tailored with their exact measurements and requirements.
Capes For A Cos is the first project launched by Adaptive Advocates and we are asking for your help! Through your donations, we will be selecting 4 children in the area and working with their families to build them a costume beyond their wildest dreams!
The majority of the funds will be used to pay for raw materials to build the costumes, as well as a rental garage space and any tools required, beyond what we already have. We will utilize materials like sculpting foam, pvc piping, thermoplastics, eva craft foam, non-toxic paints and glues, 3d printing, and custom fabrics to make our creations come to life! We rely on the crafting talents of a 100% volunteer network of cosplayers in the New York City, Long Island, Westchester, New Jersey areas.
For children who require the use of mobility aids, we will be creating costumes that incorporate their wheelchair/walker/crutches in a way they've never seen before! We want their costume to be interactive, fun, and unique to them, whether that's turning their wheelchair into the Batmobile or transforming their crutches into custom lightsabers!
Every step of our journey will be shared with you, our supporters and backers, through extensive video and image documentation. We hope to start our builds in June of 2022, with reveal dates in October 2022, just in time for Halloween! Each child will have their own unique reveal event with their loved ones present as well as the team who helped create their costume. I am also currently working with the folks over at New York Comic Con for a possible reveal at the convention for some of our lucky kiddos.
Adaptive Advocates have been working in the crafting field for years and know all the tricks of the trade for sculpting awesome props and sewing epic fabrics. Now, we're taking what we've learned and creating inclusive builds designed to bring a smile to a child's face like never before. Need a costume without tags? No seams? Velcro enclosures required? We're here to listen, help, and adapt. Whether your child has muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, down syndrome, or autism, we want to make their dreams come true!
We're starting off by shooting for a $4,000 goal, which leaves $1,000 per child to make them their dream costume! Every penny we earn will go toward these four Capes For A Cos children, and anything earned above $4,000 will go toward future projects. Every donor will be assigned a specific child to sponsor so you can follow along on their journey. As a thank you for your donation, you will receive a thank you video from the family of the child as well as an invitation to their costume reveal event. Adaptive Advocates is an incorporated 501c3 non-profit organization, so all of your donations are tax deductible!
Even if you can't contribute financially, we are always open to likes, shares, design ideas, personal stories and inspiration! Please help us grow and give back to our community! Every bit of support helps, even if it's your enthusiastic, virtual encouragement!
Risks and challenges
When it comes to craft projects, there can always be hurdles along the way. Whether that's running out of raw materials, or trying something that didn't end up working, there can be a bit of trial and error involved in the process. Through our dedicated team of volunteers, we're hoping to put our heads together to be as efficient as possible with our materials, tools, and time.
Each costume will require varying degrees of difficulty and be fabricated with different materials. In the rare case that unforeseen challenges arise or the materials are harder to work with and we somehow miss the deadline, we will pull through and finish what we started. If we don't get it completed by October of 2022, we will still be sure to share the big reveals with all of you.
COVID is also always a concern and challenge. The state of the health crisis is fluid right now, but safety measures will be our top priority throughout the year. If COVID keeps us from holding a reveal, we will be sure and let our supporters know. The safety of the children and those with compromised immune systems will remain our matter of greatest importance during this project.
