Matt McGehee and his crew at ALLGLASS Window Cleaning dress up as superheroes to make sick kids at St. Louis Children’s Hospital smile. You might see McGehee and Scott Bowman (pictured) scaling the hospital in costume again in late February or early March.
• The kids inside the buildings used to watch us when we swung from window to window on the ropes. Then, we started washing St. Louis Children’s Hospital, and they said yes, we could wear the costumes. Now everyone loves it.
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• We’ve done this twice so far. We’ve dressed up as Captain America and Spider-Man.
• It is true that Captain America doesn’t fly, but it’s still pretty cool to have him outside your window.
• We thought about doing Batman, but we didn’t want to scare the kids. We also thought the Hulk’s mask might scare people, so we’re not doing him.
• The kids are cool. Usually they don’t see you coming. Then they do a double-take, and their eyes get big, and they get that slow smile. It’s really neat to watch their reactions. In the common areas of the hospital, they smack on the glass and try to get your attention and wave. Some of these kids might not otherwise smile that day, so if we can make them smile, that’s a bonus.
• We had to get new costumes, because with what we put them through, they only last one or two times.
• We can’t clean windows when it’s too windy. There’s a limit of what you can do, not only for safety but also because the wind may blow liquid back into the glass you just cleaned, which makes for double work. If the wind is 15 to 20 mph or less, we can drop down, but more than that can become a safety issue.
• If you have a fear of heights, you probably can’t clean the big buildings. That’s how you find out if you can do it. Some guys get suited up and then can’t go through with it. It’s a big thing to step off the side of a building your first time.
• We sometimes have two guys up there, both dressed as Spider-Man. Most rooms only have one window, though, so there’s no danger of the kid seeing two Spider-Men. That might be a little weird.
