The Sidekick Collective was inspired by an essay Founder Paige Edmiston wrote as a high school student, in response to an essay contest sponsored by Seattle author Eric Liu and venture capitalist Nick Hanauer. In this essay, What True Patriotism Means to Me: A New Breed of Superhero for the 21st Century, Paige identified a problem:

“And we see them in every eight-year-old Superman, Spiderman, and Batman running around the neighborhood on Halloween. America loves a good superhero. The only problem with this superpower love affair is that the superhero is not real. When that eight-year-old is but a few years older, saving the world is reduced to a movie-preview tagline enjoyed with popcorn at the multiplex.

But I believe superheroes are real.”

At The Sidekick Collective, we believe we can solve this problem by finding and supporting superheroes who do exist in the real-world — and by inspiring others that our eight-year-old dreams of saving the day can come true if only we make the choice to do what superheroes do: help others first, make right what’s wrong and protect the vulnerable.

Learn more at The Sidekick Collective.

See the short film “Reinventing the Patriot” inspired by the award-winning essay.