Where It Started
Sometimes history doesn't begin when the doors open.
Sometimes it begins before you even know you're standing at the beginning.
For me, it started at FAN EXPO Boston in 2025.
My son and I decided to go. Neither of us is usually one for crowds, so walking into a convention surrounded by thousands of people wasn't exactly where I expected to feel comfortable.
But somehow...
I did.
Everywhere I looked, people were connecting. Complete strangers stopped each other to compliment their cosplay. Families laughed together. People took pictures, shared their excitement, and celebrated the things they loved.
People seemed free.
Free to be different.
Free to be creative.
Free to be themselves.
And somehow, in a building filled with thousands of people, it felt...
safe.
Safe enough that my son and I looked at each other and said,
"Let's split up and meet back later."
If you know me, you know that's saying something.
So off we went.
Somewhere between the superheroes, artists, cosplay, laughter, and thousands of people simply being themselves, I noticed a sign.
Community Zone.
I stopped.
"Hmm... I never knew nonprofit organizations could be here."
Then my brain did what my brain tends to do.
One thought found another.
"Wait... why aren't we here?"
I didn't know it yet, but that question was coming home with me.
What If We Were There?
When applications opened for FAN EXPO Boston 2026, we applied.
Then we waited.
Weeks went by.
Every email notification made me look.
"Is this it?"
Nope.
And honestly...
I thought I had written a pretty compelling application.
FAN EXPO Boston creates something incredible. For three days, people enter a space where being different doesn't need to be explained.
It's celebrated.
But eventually the weekend ends, and everyone goes home.
United Communities is still here.
We're still in the neighborhoods, answering the phone, responding to overdoses, helping families, connecting people to resources, and walking alongside our community.
I hoped they would see what I saw.
That our missions could fit together.
Then the email arrived.
We had been accepted into FAN EXPO Boston 2026.
I stared at the screen.
Excitement.
Then almost immediately...
"Okay... now we actually have to do this."
I knew one thing right away.
I didn't want us standing behind a table handing out brochures.
That's not who we are.
People come to FAN EXPO for stories.
Heroes.
Adventure.
Imagination.
So I started wondering...
How do we create something people actually want to experience?
Building the Hero Universe
Instead of creating a booth, we started creating a world.
The United Communities Connections Hero Universe.
The cosplay at FAN EXPO Boston is incredible. People put so much creativity, talent, and time into becoming their favorite heroes.
But what interested me was what happened afterward.
Could we remind people that they could still be heroes even after they took off their cosplay?
Because you don't need superpowers to save a life.
You can listen when someone is struggling.
Check on a friend.
Show kindness instead of judgment.
Know where to find help.
Carry naloxone and be willing to use it.
So we turned our own team into superheroes, each with an identity and purpose connected to the work they actually do in the community.
And for FAN EXPO Boston 2026...
We wore capes.
Not because capes make someone a hero.
Because they start conversations.
And conversations were exactly what we wanted.
Then one idea became another.
And another.
Before I knew it, I was redesigning our materials, creating artwork, building a new section of our website, developing Hero IDs and QR experiences, designing interactive missions and educational activities, writing stories, and even creating a video game prototype.
Somewhere along the way, our booth stopped feeling like a booth.
It became an experience.
Everything came back to one question:
How do we make someone curious enough to stop?
Because curiosity opens the door.
Conversation is what happens once they step through it.
75,000 Pieces and One Big Idea
By August, we needed more than one car to bring everything to FAN EXPO Boston 2026.
We started with about 20,000 items.
Naloxone.
Harm reduction supplies.
Educational materials.
Resources.
But the materials kept coming.
What started as about 20,000 items grew to nearly 75,000 pieces of harm reduction supplies, educational resources, outreach materials, and marketing materials making their way into FAN EXPO Boston 2026 with us.
Boxes and boxes of them.
Along with months of ideas, late nights, laughter, redesigns, and one belief:
Education doesn't always have to begin in a classroom, conference room, or clinic.
Sometimes it can begin at FAN EXPO Boston.
Sometimes all it takes is someone stopping long enough to ask...
"What's this?"
Then the Doors Opened
Then the doors opened.
People stopped.
They explored.
They laughed.
They asked questions.
Some jumped back when they saw naloxone.
"No, I don't need that."
We didn't push.
We talked.
And some of the people who initially stepped away started coming closer.
They learned what naloxone was, why someone might carry it, and how an ordinary person could use it to save a life.
Then they started taking it.
Some took supplies for themselves. Others took them for friends or family. Some simply realized they might one day be in the right place at the right time to help someone.
The same people we wanted to remind that they could be heroes after the cosplay came off were standing in front of us, preparing themselves to potentially save a life.
"I Guess You Are a Real-Life Hero"
And then, somewhere in the middle of all of it, something happened that none of us could have planned.
David, our CEO and Outreach Worker, stepped away from the booth for a break and headed outside toward the food trucks to grab food for our volunteers.
That's when a woman noticed him.
She looked at him for a moment, then approached.
She knew him.
But not from FAN EXPO.
Not from the booth.
Not because of the cape.
She knew him from the community.
Sometime long before this weekend, during the everyday work David does in the community, he had given her naloxone.
And then she told him what happened after that.
That naloxone had saved the life of one of her family members.
As she talked, people nearby started stopping.
One person.
Then another.
Soon, people were standing there listening as this woman told David what that one interaction, long before FAN EXPO, had meant to her and her family.
She became emotional.
She thanked him.
Then she asked if she could hug him.
David hugged her as she cried.
For a moment, there were no booths.
No costumes.
No Hero Universe.
No capes.
Just a woman standing in front of the person who had once handed her naloxone, telling him that because of it, someone she loved was still here.
Eventually, she walked away.
One of the women who had stopped to listen looked at David and said,
"I guess you are a real-life hero."
And there it was.
The entire reason we had created the Hero Universe, happening outside the booth without any of us trying to create it.
David wasn't wearing a cape when he gave her that naloxone.
There was no FAN EXPO.
No audience.
No superhero name.
He was simply doing what he has done in the community for years.
He gave someone something that might save a life.
And sometime later...
it did.
Maybe that's what an everyday hero actually looks like.
And maybe that was the moment the idea became real.
What 60,000 Items Really Means
Three days later, I looked at what we had left.
Remember those nearly 75,000 items we brought in?
We came home with only about 15,000.
That meant approximately 60,000 items had left our hands and entered the community in just three days.
After all those boxes...
All that packing.
More than one car.
Three days.
Thousands of people.
This was what remained.
And we have the pictures.
But the pictures can only show what was left behind.
They can't show the thousands of hands that reached across our table.
The questions.
The conversations.
The person who stopped out of curiosity.
The person who initially stepped back and then came closer.
The naloxone that left with someone who might one day be standing beside a person who needs it.
Approximately 60,000 items in three days.
That told me something.
We needed to be there.
But the numbers only tell part of the story.
People trusted us with their stories.
Some cried.
Some hugged us.
Some talked about recovery, mental health, family, or people they had lost.
Some simply stayed and talked.
And again and again, people asked:
"Will you be back next year?"
Community Is Bigger Than Our Logo
There was another part of the weekend that mattered to me.
Even without sponsors, our table wasn't only about United Communities.
We also brought information from other organizations.
Because if someone standing in front of us needed something another organization could provide, their need mattered more than whose logo was on the paper.
That's community.
And our volunteers embodied that.
They gave up their weekend, put on the capes, welcomed people, handed out resources, answered questions, listened, and believed in an idea that hadn't even existed a year earlier.
They weren't pretending to be superheroes.
They were showing people what an everyday one looks like.
Making History
We've been congratulated for making history at FAN EXPO Boston 2026 as the first Brown, Cabo Verdean, Indigenous-led grassroots harm reduction organization invited into the Community Zone.
That means a lot.
But when I think about the weekend, my mind keeps going back to where this started.
FAN EXPO Boston 2025.
One sign.
Community Zone.
One question.
"Why aren't we here?"
A year later...
We were.
The Cosplay Came Off. The Hero Didn't Have To.
Eventually, FAN EXPO Boston 2026 had to end.
The lights went down.
The booths came apart.
People headed home.
The cosplay came off.
But maybe...
the hero doesn't have to.
There are still 362 days left to listen.
To check on someone.
To show kindness.
To help a stranger.
To carry naloxone.
To be there when somebody needs you.
Maybe someone walked into FAN EXPO Boston 2026 dressed as their favorite superhero...
and walked out realizing they didn't need the cosplay to be one.
FAN EXPO Boston 2026 ended.
Being someone's hero didn't have to.
And to think...
It all started one year earlier with a sign, a Community Zone, and one little question:
"Why aren't we here?"
A year later, that question had been answered.
We were.
What's Next?
So, of course, my brain has already moved on to the next one:
"What's next?"
Everything we created for FAN EXPO Boston 2026 gave people an opportunity to share their thoughts, because that's how we build at United Communities.
With the community, not just for the community.
And if you've made it this far in our story, maybe it's time to step inside the world you've been reading about.
The door is open.
You get to decide how you enter.
Start at the Beginning
United Communities Connections Hero Universe: Full Experience
If this is your first time here, start at the beginning.
Step into the United Communities Connections Hero Universe, discover the story, meet the heroes, and experience the journey as it was designed to unfold.
Or Head Straight to Mission Control
United Communities Connections Hero Universe: Mission Control
Already know the story? Or maybe you're the kind of person who would rather skip the instructions and start pushing buttons.
I understand.
Head directly to Mission Control and decide where you want to go next.
Whichever door you choose, don't just look around.
Explore.
Play.
Learn.
Get curious.
As you make your way through the experience, you'll find opportunities to share your thoughts.
Share your feedback.
Tell us about your experience.
Tell us what you'd like to see next.
If you already know United Communities and the work we do, you'll also find an opportunity to leave us a Google review and share your experience with someone who may be discovering us for the first time.
Because your voice isn't something we ask for after we're finished building.
It's part of how we build.
The people who stepped into the Hero Universe at FAN EXPO Boston 2026, along with the people stepping into it for the first time after reading this, will help shape what it becomes next.
With the community, not just for the community.
And if all of this started with one little...
"Why aren't we here?"
Imagine where the next question might take us.
See you in 2027.
