“BAM”  “BIFF”  “POW”   The following story is mostly true, and was seen played out just a few days ago in Montgomery County, MD.

Picture this:  You are a Montgomery County police officer.  You and your trusted Crime Fighting partner are cruising down Route 29 looking for some bad guys to bust.  It’s been sort of a lazy morning so far.  You and your partner are talking casually, but still aware of the area around you, looking for a possible crime in progress.

Up in front of your squad car, you are rolling up on a black Lamborghini roadster.  As you move closer to this exotic automobile you realize that the Lambo has no license plate.  Just some sort of winged creature painted where the tag should be.  You hit the lights and siren.  All of a sudden your partner exclaims “Holy Mackerel, it’s BATMAN”!!!

You and your partner walk forward on each side of the “Batmobile”.  Standing abreast of the drivers’ door, you ask the driver for his license and registration, trying hard to stifle the snicker in your voice.  The driver responds by saying that he must exit the vehicle to get to the passenger side to retrieve the registration, and the Maryland license plate.

You step back as the door opens.  Out steps this huge, giant of a man dressed as “Batman”.  He is towering over you.  As the “Black Knight” swoops around the back of his “Batmobile”, cape flying regally in the air, your partner steps back.  Never can be too sure with these wierdos.

As you are observing the registration, you ask, “OK Batman.  What’s your real name?”  Batman answers “Lenny”.  (Damn, I was hoping for Bruce).

As the saga unfolds, the “Masked Crusader” explains that his real name is Lenny Robinson, and he is a Baltimore businessman.  He is going to attend an event for hospitalized kids as part of a “Superhero Celebration” organized by the charity “Hope for Henry.”

“Lenny is a one-man operation and he is amazing and beautiful because he’s also doing this for free,” says Allen Goldberg, who founded the organization with his wife after the experience with their son Henry, whose rare illness left him hospitalized for long periods of time.

“When [Henry] was alive and hospitalized — for months at a time — we had to keep him entertained, so back in 2000, I bought the first ever portable DVD player,” says Goldberg.  Henry watched a lot of Batman movies and cartoons so, after he passed away, they decided to give the same comfort and hope to kids whose circumstances land them in the hospital for extended stays.

The program’s gone from giving portable DVD players to kids to handing out iPads and throwing birthday parties for kids in the hospital on their special days. They even host those “Superhero Celebrations” at various hospitals throughout the year.  Most superheroes are paid, but “Batman”(Lenny) does it for free.

“He comes across as Batman, he has the kind of gruff voice and he’s got the demeanor down and he holds himself erect like Batman,” explains Goldberg, adding “And he’s got the Lambo, which is pretty sweet, too.”

Mike Rosenwald from The Washington Post tagged along with “Batman” for one of his hospital visits.  Mark posted the following:

Batman asked the nurses at the front desk whether there were any children who couldn’t come out of their rooms to see him.  Assured that there weren’t, Batman headed back down to his Batmobile, followed by the mother of a baby girl with cancer and her healthy 4-year-old son, whose only goal in life at that moment was to see the Batmobile.   When the boy saw the car, I thought his eyeballs were going to separate from his body.

Batman revved the engines and blasted the audio system – the Batman theme song. Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, Batman!  He revved the engine some more.  The little boy didn’t want to say goodbye, but his mom told him, “Batman needs to go fight the bad guys.”

The little boy cried.

“I want to go help him fight the bad guys,” he said.

His mom said, “You need to go help your sister fight cancer.”

Batman waved and sped away in his Batmobile!

                                    —    ——–    —

Mark Hardigree, Jalopnik.com, interviewed Lenny by telephone.  The Batphone rang and was answered “This is Batman.”  Lenny is obviously amused by the attention, but it didn’t sound that important to him.

“I don’t do it to become famous, I do it for the kids,” Lenny told Mark. “They mean more to me than anything.”

And to prove it…… he had to cut this interview short.   The reason?   He had to take his niece to dinner.

                                    —    ——–    —

Even though Lenny is amused at the media attention, his only goal is to entertain the hospitalized kids.   He is so involved in what he does, that he is having  a just-like-in-the-movies Batmobile being made at the cost of $250,000.00.  It’s not ready yet.  Wait until the police get a look at that monster tooling down the highway.

It is so refreshing, and heart warming, to see someone so unselfish of his time, and money, to help the children.  GOD bless you, Batman.

Til we meet again.

FB   03/31/12