Twins wrap Caravan with 'super special' visit to young patients

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- After signing some autographs and helping to set a few Wiffle balls on tees in the open area on the third floor of the Ronald McDonald House a few blocks away from the main campus of the renowned Mayo Clinic, Twins hitting coach David Popkins suddenly snapped into coaching mode.

He saw 4-year-old Lucas Wensauer, of Sacred Heart, Minn., take a big hack and send the ball soaring off the tee into the net placed over the large windows in the room -- and then came whack after whack, over and over again, with the young patient showing off a swing beyond his years.

So Popkins raised the tee all the way to its highest point and asked Lucas to try to hit the ball into the air. He lowered the tee all the way to its lowest point to see if the youngster could hit the low pitch. He encouraged Lucas to hit the ball in specific directions, to aim at certain objects in the distance.

For the better part of an hour and a half, young patients and their families soaked it all up.

“We've been here since the beginning of June,” said Brandon Wensauer, Lucas’ father. “He's been through two bone marrow transplants in the last year. He's been through a lot. It's fun to be able to see him have some fun.”

Though the Ronald McDonald House’s operations slowed down due to the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the facility is working again at full speed, capable of housing up to 70 families. The only requirements are that the family have a child receiving medical care and reside outside of the county.

Families are often tied up throughout the day with appointments at Rochester-area hospitals. Some have children who receive inpatient care at those facilities. They’re grueling, emotionally intense periods that keep families in Rochester for anywhere from days to -- sometimes -- years.

The House offers food, community and comfort in the form of pet therapy, music therapy, house dinners and other elements that help take the mental load off those families to the extent they can, facilitated by a site renovation completed in 2019 that expanded their capacity and created that active space.

“I will say that we don't have professional sports teams come to the house very often,” said Angela Christensen, the development officer at the Ronald McDonald House. “We'd love to have more. This is just not something that our kids experience any other time in their life, so it's super special.”

When the Twins passed through on Tuesday as part of the final day of their Winter Caravan leg, manager Rocco Baldelli, Popkins, pitcher Louie Varland and longtime big leaguer LaTroy Hawkins taught several of the kids how to swing off tees and against soft toss as they and their families got to enjoy a ballpark-style lunch of hot dogs and chili.

The Twins left the Wiffle ball set at the Ronald McDonald House to facilitate more such days and memories for the patients and their families before embarking on a ride south to Mason City, Iowa, where they wrapped up their Caravan trip. Pretty soon, they’ll have to send an area scout out west to Sacred Heart to check in on how Lucas’ swing is coming along.

“It's just something that I know we and probably everybody else staying here, something that everybody appreciates a lot,” Wensauer said. “Little things go a long way. It means a lot to us and to everybody else here.”