VfBfairplay action day at the Vesperkirche

Since 1995, Stuttgart’s Leonhardskirche has been opening its doors to people who are sick, unemployed, homeless, impoverished or debt-ridden over the winter months. The Vesperkirche organisation, which is funded exclusively by donations, is the first of its kind in the German-speaking world and offers space for around 200 people.

Representatives and staff from VfB assisted around 40 full-time and voluntary staff from the Vesperkirche in the preparation and distribution of hot drinks and meals on Wednesday. After training in the morning, players from the leadership group, head coach Bruno Labbadia and members of the board also called in at Leonhardskirche. VfB president Claus Vogt, who helped out with the distribution of meal vouchers, said: “It’s an important and nice visit for us. The players do it well and more importantly they do it happily.”

While Serhou Guirassy and Dinos Mavropanos served spaghetti Bolognese, captain Wataru Endo, Waldemar Anton and Labbadia helped with the drinks. “It’s very important for us as a club to help in our city. Huge credit to all the volunteers, it’s very nice to be there,” said the VfB head coach. Those sentiments were shared by Pascal Stenzel, who was part of the service team together with Fabian Bredlow, Florian Müller and Christian Gentner: “When you see how pleased the people are that we’re there, then you’re very happy to do it. It’s good for us to be able to give something back.”

CEO Alexander Wehrle stressed how important it is for VfB to help people in need – and praised the team’s dedication. “The lads have shown today that they’re not just smart but above all that their hearts are in the right place.”