Local superhero to premiere documentary about spreading holiday cheer to all 50 states
Yuri Williams has traversed the country bringing toys to sick and disabled children numerous times. Watch him on his journey this Saturday at the Art Theatre of Long Beach.
Yuri Williams’ mom died of cancer in 2009.
After taking some time off following her death, Williams was heading back to work when he tried to call her. He had always called his mom before his shift as an Orange County corrections officer.
Old habits are hard to break.
“The phone just rang and rang and rang,” Williams, who is now 47, recalled. “I just start bawling because this is when I know that she’s not gonna pick the phone up anymore.”
Williams fell into a years-long depression where he “almost lost himself,” but eventually turned that pain into purpose. He started a nonprofit, A Future Superhero, to serve local communities as well as those around the country.
To date, Williams has traveled to all 50 states — five times — delivering Christmas cheer to the unhoused and children in need. Now, Williams is set to premiere "Hope for the Holidays," a documentary that follows one of the trips, at the Art Theatre of Long Beach.
Growing up, Williams’ mom was a probation officer. When she couldn’t find a babysitter, she would bring him along to work. Williams recalled parents would bring their incarcerated children toys, which was not allowed. One day, he was given one of the toys: a Spider-Man action figure.
“That’s when I fell in love with Spider-Man,” Williams said. In the midst of his depression in 2016, he “entered back into my childhood and realized Spider-Man was my hero.”
Williams created a GoFundMe and took to Instagram asking for donations so he could get a screen-accurate web-slinger suit. Some $2,000 later, he had the suit. The first thing he did was head to Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital for the cancer walk, where he visited children dressed up as the comic book character.
Being a first-time superhero, Williams said he did not know that he had to treat the lenses to keep them from fogging up. Vision obscured, he nonetheless powered through, bringing joy to the pediatric patients.
Wanting to take his philanthropy to the next level, in 2017 he teamed up with Rodney Smith, founder of Raising Men Lawn Care Service and Raising Women Lawn Car Service, which provide free lawn care to the elderly, people with disabilities, single parents and veterans. The two embarked on their first 50-state tour together.
“In every state we would find one houseless individual and ask them what they want for Christmas,” Williams said of that first excursion. “Nobody asked for anything crazy like a car, but plane tickets, train tickets, shopping sprees, seven nights in a hotel, clothes — simple stuff like that.”
“I haven’t been depressed since,” he said.
Each subsequent trip was focused on children in need, specifically those with cancer and other serious ailments that meant they may not live to see many more Christmases.
Williams and Smith would receive entries ahead of their trips and randomly select up to three kids in each state. The men would then visit each family over the span of several weeks, driving around the country in a van delivering 10 to 15 toys to each child, Williams said.
“It’s beautiful,” Williams said of the experience. “It’s uplifting for those in need. It’s a relief to the parents, a blessing for the kids and it fulfills me to see them happy.”
Meeting kids that are ill, some terminally, is hard, and Williams said that it gets even more difficult after hearing one of them has died.
The documentary, which premieres Saturday, Aug. 10, at 3 p.m., follows Williams and Smith on their 2022 50-state trip. The event is $10 and each ticket includes a swag bag and a raffle ticket, with a 58-inch TV up for grabs.
Outside of his 50-state tours, Williams said his nonprofit does work throughout the Los Angeles region just about every weekend. From backpack giveaways for students to costumed appearances to giving away food to unhoused veterans to home visits for children with illnesses. During the pandemic, he gave groceries to elderly residents who could not visit stores and even helped several families pay their rent.
Most of the charitable work Williams does is self-funded, he said. Only about 25% of funding comes from donations, he added. The nonprofit has a six-member board and 15 volunteers.
While he started out with only his Spider-Man suit, Williams now has a wardrobe of costumes, including Deadpool, the Mandalorian and his holiday-themed red Stormtrooper, which is his costume for the 50-state tour in the movie.
Williams is still a corrections officer in Orange County, but he said he is two years away from retirement — at which point he will dedicate himself to his nonprofit full time.
“Once you see what life is all about, you’ll stop worrying about expensive shoes, expensive bags. You see people that might not live to see Christmas,” Williams said. “ Our time is limited here and we don’t know when our time is going to be. It’s just a blessing to be able to bless other people.”
The Art Theatre of Long Beach is located at 2025 E. Fourth St. and tickets to the premiere can be purchased here.
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