Meaningful tradition

Christmas is a time for family, but not all children can spend the holidays together with their parents and siblings at home. For that reason, after two years of coronavirus-related interruptions, the Wolves finally returned to a meaningful tradition this year by visiting the Wolfsburg Clinic for Paediatrics, Adolescent Medicine and Psychosomatics. VfL Wolfsburg have been supporting young patients through this initiative since 2007, connecting the club to the families. For Yannick Gerhardt, Paulo Otavio and Dzenan Pejcinovic, it was their first time participating in the project. On Thursday the trio joined VfL mascot Wölfi in distributing small gifts to children and parents to offer comfort and reassurance.

Their first stop was the psychosomatic children’s clinic, where they arrived with a cart full of surprises including VfL scarves and caps, chocolate, homemade biscuits and autographs. Visits of this kind are not an everyday occurrence for the children, carers and helpers. “For us it’s nice if we can give the children some joy and maybe they can forget about everyday life for a little while,” said Gerhardt. “We tried to give them a lot of strength and encourage them not to give up hope.”

In the adjacent building they went to the neonatal intensive care unit, where many young families depend on medical staff and the help on offer. The visit certainly made a mark on Otavio: “It’s always a special situation for us to be here, especially for me because my wife is pregnant and we already have a child. When we see how strong the parents have to be here, we feel courage and gratitude.”

Parents, in particular, struggle during difficult times here. “We want to give the families and children our hope and confidence and make them smile again,” Otavio added. The young patients were equally delighted about the visit and took the opportunity to ask for selfies and autographs, while there were words of encouragement from their idols.