HELP: Christmas is for Kids 2010

For the 17th consecutive year, 97 Rock and our listeners are throwing a party for a few hundred Western New York kids who might not have a Christmas otherwise.

Our Christmas is for Kids party allows these kids from local social services programs to spend a couple hours enjoying pizza and ice cream, games and a visit from Santa.

Each child leaves with a toy, and that's where we could use your help. Please make a donation of cash or a new toy and we'll make sure it ends up in the hands of a needy child. This year's party is on December 14th at The Hub, 4999 McKinley Parkway in Hamburg.

Join Jickster and The Buffalo Jills at these Tim Horton's locations

to drop off your donations!

November 30th- 2248 Niagara Road in Wheatfield

December 1st- 1610 Walden Avenue in Cheektowaga

December 2nd- 5035 Southwestern Boulevard in Hamburg

December 3rd- 5316 Transit Road in Depew

December 6th- 2413 Clinton Street in West Seneca

December 7th- 1950 Sweet Home Road in Amherst

December 8th- 6687 Tranist Road in Williamsville

December 9th- 5599 Camp Road in Hamburg

December 10th- 3275 Orchard Park Road in Orchard Park

Get all the details at http://www.97rock.com/Article.asp?id=2037401&spid=21992

Ashlee singing with her old band

Most long-time followers of the Jills are well-aware of 2005 Ambassador Squad member Ashlee A, who auditioned for American Idol several years ago and, since her days on the Jills, has been singing as well as working with her fiancé at his Pride Martial Arts Academy in Amherst. Ashlee spent a couple of years as the female lead singer for Buffalo's Studio 54 Dance Band before moving on to work with the About Face Band which performs mostly at weddings as opposed to the club circuit around Western NY. Even after Ashlee's departure, she maintains her friendships with Studio 54 so when the current female lead, Ashley Kate, had a wedding to attend the same evening as a gig, Ashlee was ready, willing, and able to fill in at the World's Smallest Disco as it was billed. With the World's Largest Disco happening downtown at the same time featuring members of the Bandettes, it was probably a fitting name. Check out the pics from Mooney's in Kenmore at http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a375/buffalojills2005/2010/Ashlee%20Studio%2054/

and let's not forget the video. Since Ashlee left the band 3 1/2 years ago, "Wild Night" by John Mellencamp hasn't been a staple of the group. Ashlee and guitarist Joey D decided to treat the crowd to a special treat, though.

Learn more about Studio 54 at http://www.studio54band.com/ , About Face at http://www.aboutfaceband.com/ and Pride Martial Arts at http://www.buffalokickbox.com/

The Jills at the Bills-Steelers game

Jessica and Courteney next to the Jills display in the Fieldhouse
Thanksgiving weekend in Buffalo saw a sold-out crowd at the Ralph for a matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers. While the crowd wasn't your typical Buffalo crowd with a large contingent of Steelers faithful who were able to help spur their team on to victory in overtime, there was one thing the Bills had going for them in this matchup against what was regarded as a far superior team. The Buffalo Jills welcomed back 4 of their girls to full active duty. Jaclyn and Danielle haven't been on the sidelines for the last month and a half outside of Danielle's appearance in the halftime show in Toronto. Jaclyn's return was a special one as she's been recovering from a broken wrist suffered in practice and, considering she went to college in Pittsburgh, had a lot of extra friends there to watch her return. Lindsey, on the other hand, hasn't missed any time on the sidelines, but a hamstring pull has kept her out of the bigger performances until now. Morgan and Reena have also missed a significant amount of time in pregame performances as well. For this fan, seeing the return of these five wonderful rookies to full active duty made up for the loss of the game in a small way.

Jill and Danielle performing in the 1st quarter

Kelly, Jaclyn, Lindsey, and Omarlla cheering in the 3rd quarter

See all the pics at http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a375/buffalojills2005/2010/Steelers/

Coming up next, the Jills will have 8 of their dancers in Iraq for the next week and a half as Katie, Lisa, Murissa, Kelly, Loren, Kristen, Gabrielle, and Jill visit and entertain the troops where everyone there will fall in love with these young ladies the way we have here in Western NY. And just like us, they'll be amazed with Jill's gymnastic abilities.
This Saturday, while their squadmates are in Iraq, the rest of the Jills will be holding their 4th Annual Fundraiser at SoHo from 7-9:30pm. The $20 ticket gets you all-you-can-eat on pizza, beer, and wine-tasting and also includes plenty of raffles to get in on and entertainment by the Buffalo Jills.
The Jills next take the field on December 12th as the Bills host their rivals from across Lake Erie, the Cleveland Browns. Make sure to stop by Lot C at 11:30 to see the Jills dancers perform.

Monday Morning Cheerleader: Omarlla of the Bills

A veteran sideline beauty swallows another Buffalo loss to a playoff favorite just long enough to tell us who's going to the Super Bowl

If scientists ever want to study how much heartbreak one team's fans can stomach, they can start in Buffalo. Forget the Super Bowl struggles of the Nineties and the current Bills playoff drought — Case Study No. 1 starts with the 2010 season: five losses by five points or less, including three in overtime, capped by Sunday 19-16 stinger to the Steelers, in which the red-white-and-blue rallied mightily before what would have been nothing short of an epic upset slipped, quite literally, through its fingers.

But Buffalo's long-suffering throngs keep coming back. And their resilience is exemplified by Buffalo Jills line captain Omarlla, who's donned the hot pants for nothing short of a decade. What's even more amazing about this elementary-school curriculum coordinator? Like Michael Jordan before her, she was cut from her high-school team. "I haven't talked to those cheerleading coaches, but I get so tempted to send them autographed cards and calendars," she says. "Eleven years of jump-splitting, and I just continue to work out, stay flexible, and keep going." Looking for hope? Here's some.

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/the-side/cheerleaders/bills-cheerleader-112910#ixzz16fkZjTev

Buffalo Jill of The Week Keisha

The phrase "tall, dark, and beautiful" is only the tip of the iceberg when describing our Jill of The Week. Keisha is in her 4th season with the Jills and in her 1st full season as a captain of the Jills Ambassador Squad after serving as acting captain most of last season. Her being a captain is no big surprise...she regularly goes above and beyond for her squadmates and goes above and beyond with being friendly as well. As a Jills Ambassador, she's required to be a people person and able to carry on a conversation. Truth be told, out of all the Jills I've known over the years, she's better at that than anyone. Always great with carrying on as well as starting conversations, she's excellent at making people feel at ease. This season, she's even putting her football knowledge to the test every Friday. Q103 in Albany, a big Bills and Jills supporting radio station, has her on every Friday afternoon just before 4:30 to make picks in 3 games for the weekend. She's competing with their afternoon host and the loser at the end of the season has to eat a dozen atomic hot wings. Check out how well she's doing at http://www.wqbk.com/BuffaloBills/KeishasPicks/tabid/13977/Default.aspx where you'll also find a link where you can listen live to her segment.

Keisha's secondary photo comes from an appearance at Dunkirk's final Music on the Pier event of the summer. Stefanie and Keisha were on hand helping out the folks from Chadwick Bay Beverages, one of the Jills' sponsors this season.

You can read more about Keisha at http://buffalojills.net/article.asp?id=1961195