Batman of San Jose stands out as a real costumed hero

Of all the costumed characters you could see at SiliCon with Adam Savage last weekend, one truly stood out as a real hero. That would be Batman of San Jose, the college student who has dressed up as the Dark Knight and brought a bit of light to the homeless in Silicon Valley.

For the past four years, he would drag a cart to encampments near the Guadalupe River and to St. James Park, handing out food, water and other necessities to the unhoused population. Doing it dressed as Batman was a natural choice, he told the audience at SiliCon.

“For me, Batman is a character born out of trauma but also a character whose goals are to protect people and to help other people,” he said. “I really connected with the fact that Batman is somebody who does the right thing and does it for the good of other people in his community.”

Now, he’s taken his mission of compassion to Rochester, N.Y., where he is attending the Rochester Institute of Technology. The homeless population there is much smaller than in San Jose, he told an audience at SiliCon, but the winter weather conditions are much harsher. He has an Instagram account (www.instagram.com/batman_of_san_jose) with links to community organizations in San Jose that help the homeless. He returned to San Jose this summer before heading back for his second year of school.

As a maker and a cosplayer, who built some of his original costume at the old TechShop in San Jose, he fit right in with the SiliCon crowd. He was a little starstruck when he was introduced at a VIP reception to SiliCon Creative Director Adam Savage, who was impressed with both his suit and his work.

“I’m just a dude in a costume up here trying to make a difference,” said Batman, prefers to do his work anonymously, in part because he says his identity is less important than the good he does. “You don’t have to be anybody special to make a difference for people. All you have to do is get up and say enough is enough and get up and do something.”

Jonathan Knowles, a Los Gatos technologist who met Batman of San Jose in his pre-Batman days, says he proves that “the most powerful superpower is mindset.”

“I think it’s wonderful that a young person looks around and has that sense of compassion and empathy and then takes that next step to actually do something about it,” said Knowles, who interviewed Batman on stage.

And Batman knows he can make a difference. He told the audience about a mother and her 3-year-old son he first met when they were living under a Highway 87 overpass, where the loud traffic rushing by every day created a clearly unhealthy situation.

“As time went by, they’ve been in and out of housing, and this little kid, he knows what’s happening to him. He told his mom, ‘I don’t want to sleep under the bridge again.’ No kid should have to say that,” Batman said, choking up. But thanks to his efforts and many other people, that family may have more hope than before. A couple of months ago, he got to see the boy graduate from kindergarten.

“That little kid isn’t sleeping under a bridge anymore,” he said, “and I’m working to make sure that no little kid has to sleep under any bridges.”

MORE HEROES TO SALUTE: More than 400 people showed up at the SAP Center in downtown San Jose last Friday night for the San Jose Police Department’s Major Awards Ceremony. The annual event, which is produced by the nonprofit San Jose Police Foundation, honored dozens of law enforcement officers and everyday citizens whose actions saved lives or solved crimes.

“Law enforcement is not a profession that seeks awards or recognition,” San Jose Police Chief Anthony Mata said. But the audience gladly applauded the stories of officers like Medal of Valor recipient Pedro Garcia, who pulled a man from a burning car on Highway 101 last September, and the team that responded to the horrific mass shooting at VTA in May 2021.

DECADE OF SUCCESS: Cancer CAREpoint knows it has fans it can count on, with hundreds of them turning up for its Garden Party fundraiser Sunday that celebrated the nonprofit’s 10th anniversary. In this case, the “garden” was a huge tent set up in a parking lot adjacent to Good Samaritan hospital in San Jose, but none of the revelers seemed to mind.

After listening to speakers Amy Burkman and Caroline Lee share their stories, the crowd raised more than $1 million through sponsorships and auction bidding to support Cancer CAREpoint’s services for cancer patients, family members and caregivers. Hats off to event chairs Sandi Frazer and Erin Baxter, as well as Cancer CAREpoint Executive Director Dawn Hogh and board chair Jen Landes, for getting the group’s next decade off to a good start.