In addition to Bills events, squad events and charity appearances, the Jills could frequently be seen supporting their sponsors, who generally gave the girls on the squad a few perks and paid the main sponsor of the squad a tidy sum to be named as a sponsor. In 2009, one of those sponsors was Merritt Estate Winery who even added a Buffalo Jills-wine to their inventory. Based in Forestville, NY, they hold a couple of charity events each year with live music, vendors, free wine-tasting, and more. Their June event, called the Strawberry Festival, raises money for a different charity each year, frequently helping out a local athlete's cause. In 2009, that charity was the Ruben Brown Foundation, which raises funds for youth service and enrichment programs. With Merritt sponsoring the Jills that year, girls from the squad were on hand for the Saturday portion of the event.
When I arrived, several of the Jills were already on hand selling the Jills wine, signing autographs, and posing for photos. One of the young ladies was going a little above and beyond as they had a dunk tank set up and rookie dancer Gabrielle had volunteered to be in it. Unfortunately, it wasn't a typical June day with temps in the 70s but instead in the high 50s to low 60s. No one would've blamed Gabby for backing out of the dunk tank duties but she stuck with it with a smile on her face.
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| Heather and Kelly with Ruben Brown |
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| Gabrielle in the dunk tank |
She even kept smiling while her squadmate Jennifer was giving it her all to dunk her herself...though maybe the reason she kept smiling through that is because Jennifer missed each time. She did get dunked a few times however and when she came out, she had goosebumps on her goosebumps! But through it all, she never stopped smiling
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| Jennifer anxiously trying to dunk Gabrielle |
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| Kelly, Jennifer, Ayeshia, Gabrielle, Heather, Joya, and Murissa |
After a few hours, the Jills that were there left to be replaced by Lynn and Katie who were replaced later by Jill and Kelly Ann to finish up the day. One of the things brought up in the Jills lawsuit that was filed last year was how the girls aren't supposed to express opinions on hot topics. The reason for that is so that they can appear as friendly to everyone and a big topic can get pretty heated easily. The hot topic that year was the eventual reinstatement to the NFL of convicted felon Michael Vick. A young man tried to get Jill's and Kelly Ann's opinions on bringing Vick to the Bills and thankfully I was there to steer the debate away from the ladies.
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| Lynn, Katie K, Murissa, Jennifer, and Ayeshia |
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| Lynn and Katie with a bottle of Jills wine |
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| Jill and Kelly Ann with Ruben Brown |
You can see all the pics at
https://buffaloprocheerbuffalojills.shutterfly.com/pictures/5010
From the Bandettes comes a photo from the January game against the Minnesota Swarm. Taken just after halftime, Mandy grabbed her co-captain Chrissy for a photo together after their line came out to perform during the 3rd quarter. It's fitting that these two were paired as captains in 2015 not only to balance out their experience with Mandy in her 2nd season and Chrissy in her 5th. They each started off their careers as pretty quiet, although Mandy shed that quiet label by midseason.
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| Mandy and Chrissy |
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