Bring Back the Jills!

With the Jills organization shut down for the season, a lot has been missing from the Buffalo landscape. The Buffalo Stampede drum line, while nice at times, has proven to be no replacement for the Jills in so many ways. A better use for the drum line would be to accompany the Jills similar to how college bands accompany college cheerleaders and the Panthers Purrcussion accompanies the Carolina TopCats cheerleaders. Besides being missed on the sidelines, the Jills are missed in the community. There are countless girls all across the region who grow up hoping to become Buffalo Jills and when they get the chance to meet their idols, the reactions are priceless. To deprive children of those moments is something that just can't go on.

Tonight, the Buffalo Bills are doing their annual Billieve event at Niagara Falls and the Jills were always a big part of that. There are about 35 young women who should be there tonight, inspiring the crowd and visiting with fans but aren't because of the decision to shut down the squad for the 2014 season.
Those 35 young women aren't all taking this lying down, however. There's a movement started, in part by Gabrielle F, who spent the 2012-13 seasons on the Jills Ambassador Squad and was slated to be that group's co-captain  in 2014. The goal of that group is to garner large amounts of public support to show how much the Jills are wanted back in action. With the Bills' new ownership taking control today, the time is perfect to really get the message out there. Kim Pegula, the new Bills owner along with her husband Terry, is a former cheerleader at Houghton college herself and may very well have had some of those same dreams that the girls I talked about earlier still have. Kim hasn't been a silent partner in the Pegula's business and sports ventures and has been a big part of getting things done.

To show support, you can voice your opinions on social media and to the news and you can now even wear your support. Gabrielle has been talking with the media of late and promoting the sale of these shirts you can wear to show your support. They come in women's and men's designs and are available for a limited time for $20 at http://www.tourcitymerch.com/webhosting/jills/web/ Now, if you're worried that this is just a money-making thing, don't be. All the profits from these shirts goes to charity, specifically the Hunter's Hope Foundation started by Jim and Jill Kelly which is working toward treatments and a cure for Krabbe & Leukodystrophie.

Let's make sure moments like these can happen again

While the idea that the Jills could return for 2014 with the lawsuit still pending is a longshot at best with all that needs to happen, if we show the support to bring them back now, we can help ensure 2014 will be just a one-year hiatus and we'll have a new squad in 2015 with the girls properly compensated and treated.
The movement even has a website set up at Bringbackthejills.com