Membership has its privileges!

And the winner of Hero Initiative's 2009 Membership prize thingee is…Chad Bonin of Woodstock, GA and www.GaijINside.com!

Chad won the right to have Joe Quesada do a one-character drawing of his choice, and Chad chose Iron Patriot, and Joe knocked it outta the park!

Be advised: Info on Hero memberships for 2011 will be coming SOON, and you should pay attention. You could win super-cool stuff like this!

Jim McLauchlin

Sign Hero Initiative up for Ralphs, then eat!

It’s that time o’ year again. On September 1, they wiped ’em clean, we need to build back from Ground Zero!

The Ralphs Rewards card is your standard grocery store “club card” that gets you discounts and whatnot. But you can ALSO register it with a Ralphs-approved charity, and EVERY time you shop and use the card, Ralphs will kick in a small percentage to the charity of your choice. It costs you, the consumer, NOTHING. It’s just Ralphs kicking in a couple bucks to good causes.

And yes, The Hero Initiative is one of those Ralphs-approved charities, and yes, we need YOU to re-register your card for Hero, which is easy as pie (tho’ not quite as tasty):

1) Sign in to Ralphs.com with your email and password
1a) If you have not created an account, create one now! Takes about 60 seconds!

2) Go to:
https://customer.ralphs.com/ManageCommunityRewardsStep1.aspx

2a) On some browsers, if that link doesn't work, try:
https://customer.ralphs.com/ManageCommunityRewardsStep3.aspx

3) Complete the three-step process; When signing up, our NPO # (non-profit organization #) is: 80680, and we're under our corporate name, "A Commitment To Our Roots." Don't let it throw ya!

4) Now go get a pie.

Seriously, folks, if you do this once, we get a few nickels every time you shop, and multiplied by a San Diego Comic-Con full of people, it’s the best, easiest way we’ve found to raise funds. Totally painless. And hot dammit, you need bologna and Q-Tips anyway!

This applies to Ralphs, Foods Co. and Food 4 Less stores in Southern California, Nevada, Illinois, and Indiana. So if you’re in those necks of those woods, hop to it. I thank you kindly.

Jim McLauchlin

Dan DiDio at Hero's Hospitality Suite!

And pics from Dan DiDio's stellar stint at the Hero Hospitality Suite at San Diego are now up! Check ’em out!

For those of you scoring at home, we're finally through the SD pics! Check ’em ALL out at your convenience…

Hero Initiative booth

Dan DiDio

Stan Lee

Joe Quesada

Robert Overstreet and Dean White

David Lloyd

Tom DeSanto

Enjoy!

Jim McLauchlin

Ford donates $5000 to Hero Initiative!

The fine folks at Ford have ponied up $5000 to Hero Initiative in conjunction with the launch of the new Ford Fiesta. Damn nice of them to do so!

A Giant Novelty Check presentation was made (with real check as well!) at the recent Baltimore Comic Con. From left-right, above, that's Hero Board members Denny O'Neil, Mark Waid, Beth Widera and Brian Pulido; Hero volunteer Kevin Brogan, and a Ford rep.

You can check out www.thefordcast.com for chance to win a Fiesta, and follow them a-Twittering at @fordfiesta

Jim McLauchlin