D.C. United forward Chris Pontius stood in the atrium of Children’s National Medical Center, doing something he’d probably done hundreds, if not thousands of times over the course of his career: signing an autograph. The recipient, however, was far from the typical autograph seeker—she’s a patient at the hospital, and her face lit up the second she put her hands on the freshly signed soccer ball.
“How about we get DeRo’s autograph now?” said Pontius, in reference to team captain Dwayne De Rosario. “But first, you have to guess how old he is—and he might be over 40.” The child guesses De Rosario’s age at 50, and both players respond with laughter. “Close,” De Rosario says while signing the souvenir. “But not quite.”
Pontius and De Rosario were joined by D.C. United teammates Perry Kitchen, Marcelo Saragosa, Danny Cruz and Kurt Morsink, along with members of the team’s front office at Children’s National Medical Center yesterday afternoon for a visit that was put together by United Builds, one of the club’s off-the-field initiatives that encourages players and fans to work together on community projects that benefit a variety of non-profit organizations.
“I can speak for the rest of the players when I say that this is something we really look forward to,” said De Rosario, who has three kids of his own. “To put a smile on some of these kids’ faces—and you know a lot of them are fans—that’s a special thing. To see these kids, I look at them like my own kids. It means a lot to us to be here.”
The team had a chance to spend about 45 minutes a large, open play area in the center of the hospital. The kids in attendance seemed hesitant at first—but the shyness quickly melted away, and that’s when the smiles began. Morsink and Kitchen seemed right at home at the Connect Four table. Saragosa milled about, bringing some of the patients a bit further out of their shells and signing plenty of autographs. Cruz and De Rosario cut a path toward the video games, challenging the kids in the digital version of their sport.
At some point, though, something strange happened—it became difficult to tell who was having a better time, the players or the patients. “It’s funny, often times when we come here, it’s the players who end up feeling like the kids have done something for them,” said Doug Hicks, United’s senior vice president of marketing and communications.
Morsink echoed that statement. “It’s by far the best event we do. It has an effect on us, you know, it kind of makes us realize how lucky we are,” he said between photographs with the young patients. “The most important thing for me is that these kids get to take a break. They’re always struggling day in and day out, with their rehab, their medicine—they can just forget about it for a little bit, whether it be for 15 minutes, an hour, two hours, whatever. And that we can be part of that and just give them a moment they can remember for the rest of their lives, that’s something we cherish.”
United’s players and staff weren’t the only people who played a part in yesterday’s visit. Among the onlookers was a woman who has played a very special part in the club’s charitable history, albeit from behind the curtain.
Danielle Leach’s relationship with D.C. United began, oddly enough, during one of the club’s visits to the very same hospital she stood in. Her son Mason was fighting a battle against a brain tumor when the black and red came to visit, and Mason immediately formed a bond with former United defender Bobby Boswell.
Mason was a huge soccer fan, and was often seen kicking a ball down the halls of the hospital, or playing the part of a goalie, diving on the floor to stop a shot from passing him. “Soccer was the way Mason learned how to walk again after his brain surgery,” Leach told me. “It was something that created a lot of joy and made him feel like a regular kid.”
Mason passed away in 2007, at the age of five. After his passing, Leach realized she wanted to do something in his memory—and that’s when the Mason Leach Superstar Fund was born.
“Basically, we provide the extras,” Leach said. “We help out with things that are happening at the hospital. It’s a slush fund we can use to create special moments for the kids. Mason and his older brother Mateo were both passionately involved in soccer, D.C. United—all of that—and so when D.C. united comes to the hospital, we donate something they can give away.”
Yesterday, her gift to the patients at Children’s National was a boatload of mini-soccer balls, which the players autographed and doled out. “We’ve given books in the past, other things, but we make sure the team has something to give the kids when they’re here. To create something special. It’s a gift we give that helps the kids feel normal, feel like regular kids. it’s something they can use when they go home.”
It’s a funny thing—United’s future in the D.C. is obviously up in the air. There has been much analysis of how a new stadium would impact the area financially. Obviously, much is also made of how the club performs on the field, but yesterday’s visit (which was the latest in a long line of charitable efforts by the club) reminded me of something that’s next to impossible to put a price on: D.C. United cares about the District. They always have, and they likely always will.
“It’s in our motto,” said Perry Kitchen, who, along with Cruz, had just been at the hospital last week, visiting a patient recovering from brain surgery. “Win championships. Serve the community. We’re trying our best on the field, but obviously we can also try our best off the field as well.”
To give to the Mason Leach Superstar fund, go here. If you’d like to volunteer with United Builds, you can sign up at the club’s site, right here. And if you’d like to brighten the day of a patient at Children’s National Medical Center, you can find out about volunteer opportunities at their site.
