Pirates Visit The Children's Institute, Spend Quality Time With Kids
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Kids at The Children's Institute are undergoing challenging therapy and rehab for things like brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and developmental delays, but on Wednesday, they got a big surprise.
Four Pittsburgh Pirates players and coaches stopped by to brighten their day.
The visit brought not only smiles, but happy tears to the patients at Pittsburgh's The Children's Institute
The players and coaches were only hours from their game against the San Francisco Giants, but they took time out to let the kids know how much they care.
Pirates' star Andrew McCutchen says the kids aren't the only ones who benefit.
"You know, as much as people like to look at us for being impactful, I think that they're the ones that impact us in so many ways," he said. "You know, they're all fighters and they're all here and they have smiles on their faces."
The players, coaches and their wives did crafts, signed autographs and talked with the children who are undergoing various forms of therapy at the institute.
"The game doesn't matter to them. They don't care if we're going 0 for 4 or if we win 5 for 5. They look at us and we can put smiles on their faces and they put smiles on ours as well," McCutchen said.
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"It's good to come out and make a difference and have fun," added Pirates pitcher Jared Hughes. "I mean, baseball is fun and all, but this is a good little break."
For the kids, it was a home run.
"It's just nice to see everybody with a smile on their face and just meeting all these guys that we see on TV. It's really cool," said patient Shayna Graham.
