A pre-Christmas visit to friends! Children and young people from the Bayerische Landesschule für Körperbehinderte (Bavarian state school for physically disabled) welcomed guests from the neighbouring community on Friday lunchtime as Uli Hoeneß, Claudio Pizarro and Giovane Élber made the short journey from the FC Bayern headquarters at Säbener Straße.
The delegation from the German record champions brought with them numerous Advent calendars and FC Bayern autograph balls as well as a donation cheque for €25,000. This sum was part of the proceeds from the FC Bayern Legends' charity match at Chelsea FC last September. Together with FC Bayern Hilfe eV, the FCB Legends decided to donate the amount to the Bayerische Landesschule für Körperbehinderte, which Hilfe eV has supported for many years.
"We try to make the children happy and spend an entertaining time with them. I thought it was particularly nice today, the children were incredibly lively," said Hoeneß, deputy chairman of FC Bayern Hilfe eV. Hoeneß, Pizarro and Élber spent a fun and all-round successful afternoon with the children and young people, whether it was an amusing Q&A session with biscuits and lebkuchen or a game of table football. "It was something special for us to bring joy to the children. When you see the smiles on the children's faces, it warms your heart," said Pizarro.
Headteacher Johannes Nauerz also emphasised the special nature of the partnership: "It's the emotional closeness between the school and FC Bayern that is kept alive by people. I would like to highlight Mr. Hoeneß and Mr. Hopfner [chairman of the board of FC Bayern Hilfe eV] in particular. This is something unique that has connected us for decades." FC Bayern has been supporting the Bayerische Landesschule für Körperbehinderte since the team's promotion to the Bundesliga in 1965. "The partnership has grown, we have a lot of trust in each other. The school knows that we are there when they need us," added Hoeneß.
The donation will be used to digitise the classrooms and provide further training for teachers. "We have two large groups of pupils diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. We want to meet their needs and provide our staff with ongoing training to do so," explained Nauerz.
Executive vice chairman Dr Michael Diederich visited the Munich school project 'Learning with a Kick' at the FC Bayern Campus on Thursday:
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