They were all in their secret identities as WVU students Thursday night in Morgantown.
All those brave princesses, bold superheroes and just-plain goofy characters who make us laugh, we mean.
Collectively incognito, they assembled at the 123 Pleasant Street music venue to help raise money for their not-so-secret organization known as, A Moment of Magic.
That’s the WVU chapter of the national nonprofit group that sends forth costumed characters of every stripe to children’s hospitals, clinics and other places.
Their mission? To make an ailing kid remember that he’s still a kid.
“It’s really rewarding when you see the smiles when you walk into a room in a hospital,” chapter founder and president Marra Sigler said.
She’s a speech pathology major from Charles Town who launched the effort here in 2017.
Sigler wants to work with pediatric cancer patients in her career.
Hospitals are what got everyone into all of this.
‘And here we are’
Nationally, A Moment of Magic came to be in 2014, when its founders, Kylee McGrane and Margaret McAndrew, then students at College of Mount St. Vincent, in The Bronx, N.Y., got an idea.
They would dress up as princesses and visit children’s hospitals in the New York City area.
McGrane, as it turned out, bore a striking resemblance to a certain Disney princess.
That’s why their visits caught on.
One hospital would call another. Someone alerted the media. Positive press begat more interest.
Other colleges and universities started calling.
At WVU, Sigler’s mother called her after seeing a piece on the “Today” show.
“I applied,” Sigler said, “and here we are.”
Everyone’s here
Because of trademarks, licensing and other legalities, A Moment of Magic chapters can’t officially advertise the characters their members are depicting.
But, there are plenty of representatives from the Marvel universe, the aforementioned Disney and Pixar franchises.
“We pretty much run the gamut,” said Taylor Miller, an English major from Fairmont and the chapter’s public relations chair.
The university’s chapter in Morgantown started out with three characters two years ago.
In the WVU Homecoming Parade last month, 17 costumed denizens from the worlds of movies, gaming and comics marched down High Street.
‘It’s worth it’
Meanwhile, a passel of local bands marched across the stage at 123 for the benefit fundraiser.
Tony from Bowling.
Crib Hits & Oso Reese.
Before I Sleep.
Oxford Comma.
All played for free.
“I can’t tell you how much we appreciate their generosity,” Miller said.
“Generosity,” was the watch-word for WVU’s chapter last year.
The chapter interacted with more than 1,500 children during its 95 visits last year to J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital, Morgantown’s Ronald McDonald House, On Eagle’s Wings Therapeutic Riding Center and more.
Members completed 3,500 volunteer service hours. Paige Powers, a freshman elementary education major from Morgantown, is just getting started, but she’s found her volunteer home at WVU, she said.
“This is the group I’m going to stay with,” she said.
Visit https://www.amo mentofmagic.org/west-vir ginia-university to find out more about the chapter’s outreach across Morgantown.
Empathy for sick children isn’t a costume one wears, Sigler said.
“You want to make them take their mind off what they’re dealing with,” she said.
“If you can do that, and even if it’s just for five minutes, it’s worth it.”
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