For your feel-good story of the week, Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback Kenny Pickett visited Pittsburgh’s Children’s Hospital on Wednesday. The hospital tweeted out this video of Pickett’s tour and time visiting with children at the hospital.
Take a look.
The video starts off with Pickett being welcomed to the hospital and playing bingo with children at the hospital, receiving gift bags that included signed autographs from Pickett.
“It is a game changer for our patients to be able to call in and interact with our special guests when they’re here,” said Nikole Speshok-McConnell, Certified Child Life Specialist of the hospital.
The rest of the video highlights Pickett meeting with patients and their families throughout the hospital. Now the face of the Steelers’ franchise and person who has played in Pittsburgh for six years, Pickett is instantly recognizable and brought tons of smiles to his visit.
“We just want to say a heartfelt thank you to Kenny Pickett and the Steelers’ organization for taking some time out of your very busy lives and spreading a little magic to our patients and families,” Speshok-McConnell said at the end of the video.
Pickett isn’t the first Steeler to take a trip to Children’s over the past year. In September, Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt attended as part of Cam’s Kindness Week, one of the many reasons why he was the Steelers’ Walter Payton Man of the Year Nominee for a fifth straight season.
Pickett’s certainly embraced his leadership role and responsibility as the team’s new franchise quarterback. Though older than many rookies, he’s still in his early-mid 20s but has the approach, on and off the field, of a veteran. His leadership in the Steelers’ locker room was evident early on, something that only increased once he become the official starter in Week 5. Even after the team’s season ended, Pickett got back to work after taking just one week off and is already talking about getting players together to train in the offseason. While none of that guarantees becoming a successful quarterback, almost all successful quarterbacks have those leadership traits and qualities that makes him the Steelers’ guy in 2023.
If you’d like to make a donation to Children’s Hospital, you can click the link here for more information.
