Vikings linebacker Ben Leber, along with teammates Vinny Ciurciu, Mike Doss, Heath Farwell, Chad Greenway and Dontarrious Thomas, helped brighten the day of young patients at the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Fairview on Tuesday.
The players split up into groups of two and three and visited numerous children throughout the hospital. Leber and Ciurciu formed one group and made stops at a countless number of rooms in one ward of the hospital. New Vikings mascot Viktor was also there to join the players on the visit.
Doss, who joined the Vikings this past offseason, was happy to join his new teammates on Community Tuesday.
“It’s great getting out into the community and being a source of brightness for these kids and parents,” Doss said. “We want to let them know that God is with them, we’re with them and people are supporting them through tough times. We want them to know that even though we’re athletes we do care about what goes on in real life. We’re real people so this touches home for us and I’m glad the Minnesota Vikings value doing something like this on our off-day
Each Tuesday Vikings players make an effort to help the community out, but this week’s visit to the Children’s hospital had a special feel to it.
“You actually get to make a direct impact,” Leber said about the Children’s Hospital visits being special. “You can physically see the smiles that come onto the kids’ faces. Almost more importantly, it’s for the kids’ parents, too. I think the parents often get forgotten about in these situations and what they are going through is just unbelievable. So to go in and make a direct impact feels great.”
Abby Leber coordinated to include wives and girlfriends on the visit. The women wore Vikings Women’s Organization t-shirts, while the players wore their jerseys.
“Because of the limited time you just try and make small-talk,” Ben Leber said. “Ask them where they’re from, what they like to do, and obviously we ask them who their favorite football team is. More than anything it’s nice to try and get to know them as soon as you can in the five or ten minutes that you’re in there.”
The visit was made in conjunction with the Viking Children’s Fund. Since its inception in 1978, the VCF has donated more than $4 million to the University of Minnesota Department of Pediatrics to support research fighting childhood diseases.