Minnesota Viking Chad Greenway Gets Warm Reception in Packer Country

Most days of the week, there’s no love for Minnesota Vikings in Packer Country, but when it comes to helping kids feel more comfortable during visits to the hospital, it’s easy to put the gridiron rivalry aside.

Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway and his wife, Jenni, unveiled “Chad’s Locker” at Hudson Hospital and Clinics Wednesday morning.

“Chad’s Locker,” a program of Greenway’s Lead the Way Foundation, provides patients and their families access to technology as a means for relaxation and communication. The locker includes kid-friendly laptop computers, video gaming systems, and iPads, to name a few of the items.

The games become a welcome distraction for pediatric patients, Kari Rambo, Hudson Hospital Foundation President said, and help occupy their time during their hospital and specialty-clinic visits.

The locker will provide an outlet for thousands of patients and families at Hudson Hospital and Clinics each month.

“I’m excited to have this opportunity—not too far across the border, but we tread lightly over here—to come and do something very positive,” Greenway said. “This locker program is one of the biggest things my wife and I have done in the seven years of the foundation.

“The amount of children, families, siblings and grandparents who are positively effected by this locker is far reaching,” he continued. “It’s not that you want your kids to be distracted by a movie or a game all of the time, but we all know if you spend time in a hospital, there’s certain times when it’s needed. It makes the doctor’s work much easier and the parents’ lives much easier. It just makes your time in the hospital that much easier.”

In March of 2012, Chad launched his first locker at the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital. Later that year, he launched his second locker at Children's Minneapolis Hospital located in the Geek Squad Precinct.