Mike Meyer of Granite City, Ill. is a big Superman fan and collector. His collection is said to be worth around $5000. One day Mike ran into an acquaintance, Gerry Armbruster who persuaded Mike to invite him to his home.

On August 31, Mike came home to find a major part of his memorabilia gone. Mike was so distressed that he told his friend Bill Smith and then the media got involved. Once the story hit, Dan Ryno, a member of the Superfriends of Metropolis, posted the story on the Facebook page. That started a group called "Superfriends Collection to Benefit Mike in St Louis".

The Superfriends are a huge group of Superman fans who go to Metropolis Ill. every year for the annual Superman Celebration. When this story hit Facebook, their hearts were full of compassion and they had the desire to help out another Superman fan. I am proud to say that I am part of this group.

The Superfriends came together and started sending out Superman items to help Mike rebuild his collection. Some of the items were their own property, and some items were bought just for Mike. Keith Howard was taking donations for Mike during the first half of September. Keith collected more than 60 packages and with help from some of his friends, they delivered them to Mike at his home Saturday September 24.

"Next, our plan is to first go to Mike's workplace (McDonalds) and then follow him to his house to make the delivery," stated Keith. "Also, Bill Smith was the person who initially encouraged Mike to go public with the news story. I did coordinate later interest with the media however."

Keith was the one who proactively got the local media involved. Mike’s story was in the newspapers, radio news reports, TV news and of course the internet.

In my opinion, this event is so much like the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life”, that I am sure that Mike Meyer felt like George Bailey. Can you imagine a stranger like Keith showing up at your house dressed as Superman and giving you packages that The Superfriends of Metropolis sent you?

Unlike the movie, this actually happened to a real man and real people had compassion and reached out.

There is another happy ending to this story; on Friday September 16 the suspect, 37-year-old Gerry Armbruster of Granite City was arrested and all of Mike’s memorabilia was recovered.

Mike should feel so Blessed that not only did the Superman community support him but also Gerry was caught and his original collection was returned. He now has so much more than he could have ever imagined.

"Mike has already indicated that he is so moved at the outpouring of support that any duplicate donations he receives, he wants to donate them to St Louis Children's Hospital the next time I make a visit as Superman," said Keith. "That's really cool. I spoke with a reporter today (Thursday 9-22-2011) who just did a follow-up story with Mike and he told her that the reason he wants to donate to Children's Hospital is 'George Reeves used to make visits to children in hospitals.' I guess Mike, like the rest of us, has been affected in a positive way by the example of Superman."

Mike was very surprised to see everyone show up at his work, he thought everyone would go to his house and he would miss the entire event. Mike was happier than Jimmy Olsen was when Keith showed up in his George Reeves Superman costume.

Mike said to Keith "This is as close as I will ever be to meeting George Reeves."

To Mike I will quote from "It's A Wonderful Life" - "Remember No man is a failure who has friends."