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The Caravan wrapped up yesterday with stops to Amidon-Bowen Elementary School and the Children's National Medical Center. The final stop included an autograph signing at the Wizards game.

Amidon-Bowen Elementary School, which is very close to Nationals Park, hosted a school assembly on Monday morning featuring Bob Carpeter, Charlie Slowes, Steven Shell, Garrett Mock, Scott Olsen, Terrell Young, Mike O'Connor and Justin Maxwell. The players greeted the students by passing out red Nationals hats before participating in a Q&A. The students wanted to know how many home runs or strike outs the players had collected both last season and in their careers, among many other things.

After the Q&A, each of the players read a selection of Dr. Seuss's Oh, the Places You'll Go. Garrett Mock really got into it by showing the children the illustrations and bringing the book to life. At the conclusion of the reading, Screech appeared on the stage, surprising the children and capturing their undivided attention. Each of the classes posed with the players and Screech for a group photograph.

The Nationals then distributed 3,000 books donated to the school through their partnership with The Heart of America Foundation. The team also announced their partnership with Everybody Wins! DC, the largest children's literacy and mentoring organization in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Specifically, the Nationals will be donating their time during Power Lunches, a program designed to have mentors read to students during their lunch breaks.

After wrapping up with the students, the Caravan moved on to the Children's National Medical Center to visit patients. In March of 2007, the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation pledged $2 million toward the creation of a Pediatric Diabetes Care Complex, a 6,500-square-foot area that will provide room for clinical treatment and educational studies about diabetes in children.

Dianne Wicklein, Director of Development for The Children's Hospital Foundation described the importance of this partnership with the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation and also gave an update on the Complex:

Our relationship with the Washington Nationals has been so important because honestly, if the Nationals had not stepped up and had an interest in diabetes and the care of children with diabetes, we would not be able to fulfill our vision of having a diabetes care center.

We call it the Diabetes Care Complex, but it's going to be a facility here at the hospital to treat children with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, which is a chronic disease. It requires a lot of ongoing treatment and education. There is an epidemic right now, of both of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and we're seeing a great increase in our practice. We see about 1,800 children a year now and we're increasing by about 15%, so our facilities are very inadequate to really care for the children and families. Diabetes is a family illness because it requires every member of the family to be educated in the child's care.

We are still working on the fundraising to start construction, but we are getting very close. And the architectural renderings have already been developed, so we're very excited and we're working together really hard to get to that place.

The players met with patients and their families in the Atrium of the Children's Hospital. They spent their time visiting with the patients and their families, coloring, signing autographs, taking photographs and making the children laugh.

Marla Lerner Tanenbaum, Chair of The Washington Nationals Dream Foundation believes the players enjoy events like this one because they can really make an impact on a child:

This is one of their favorite things to do. They are asked to do a lot of PR things, but this has a really meaningful component. Some of them have kids, or they are away from the kids, so they really enjoy it.

She continued, addressing how the Caravan really illustrates the important work of the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation:

"The Caravan, at some points, gives us an opportunity to tell people about [the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation] and what we're doing. We did Rebuilding Together on Friday. It was about our Neighborhood Initiative, and that's all about the neighborhood around the stadium. The Diabetes Care Complex is in itself a cornerstone, part of our health initiative for kids. Diabetes is a chronic illness for children in epidemic proportions in DC. There's a wellness component to it which is a perfect match for the Nationals to be associated with children and with this illness."

All in all, the Nationals 2009 Winter Caravan was a great success. Players spent an entire week interacting with fans -- from West Virginia to Charlottesville to Annapolis and at several events in the immediate community. The team interacted with fans and kicked off their trip to Florida for spring training knowing that fans are still as supportive as ever despite last season's challenges. Throughout the Caravan, fans had the opportunity to welcome new Nationals like Josh Willingham, Scott Olsen and Terrell Young, to get a behind the scenes look at Nationals Park and to ask important questions to Stan Kasten, Mike Rizzo, Jim Bowden and Manny Acta.

And now, we're ready to count them down: there are only 18 days until pitchers and catchers report.