One of the boys in attendance showed up for the day already sporting a Preds goalie mask. Pekka Rinne is his favorite player, and after getting geared up with a $300 shopping spree in the Predators Team Store, the boy received a puck from his hero during practice.
Afterward, Rinne took the time to sit and have lunch with the boy - a small gesture, but a big impact in the young man's life.
"It was a great experience for me too," Rinne said. "It's hard to put yourself in their shoes. What they've gone through and how they were brought up and how they've been growing up, it's obviously not their fault. It was just a great opportunity for me to talk to them, and they're great kids, so it was super fun."
Watson later posted a photo on his Instagram page sitting on the Preds bench with the boy, a powerful moment that left a meaningful impression on the professional athlete just as much as it did the attendee.
"Just showing these young men attention and letting them know that you take an interest in what they're doing and that you care about them, it's really important," Watson said. It goes a long way. You see them open up and gain confidence, and you just hope that it's something they can use as a checkpoint or benchmark and just build from there. And as far as me doing it, I get as much out of it as they do. To really be able to spend some time with some kids that haven't had the greatest circumstances and see the appreciation on their face and just see kind of just how much they come to life in the short period of time, that's why we do this stuff.
"To have the privilege to be able to touch somebody else's life, to make a kid's life better for that day, that's pretty special. I'm fortunate to be in the position that I am to be able to do that."
When they arrived that morning, the walls were up, their spirits were guarded against the outside world. It didn't take long for those barriers to come crashing down, however, and the time spent with the Preds brought out the boys' true personalities before the day was done.
"To have a male figure speak affirmation over them, look them in the eyes, ask them about their day, it just goes such a long way because it happens so infrequently," Allender said. "Usually their social workers and teachers are all female, and we're all loving on them and they get that nurturing touch, but to have a male speak to them and offer than encouragement and affirmation to them, it means a lot."
They still wait for that forever home, but there's a renewed promise gained from an experience like this. And while that part may be missing from their lives at the moment, the boys are still just like everybody else.
The Preds saw that, and the boys are now one day closer to receiving that love all the time.
"You start thinking about things like that, what these kids are going through, and it's tough because they're great kids," Rinne said. "I'm just very hopeful for them and for their future, and hopefully there's good things to come."
