BUFFALO - In February, then 12-year-old Bemus Point resident Lauren Hendrick was the grand prize winner of the Buffalo Bills' "Show Your Dedication" contest, which earned her a pair of Super Bowl XLVI tickets in Indianapolis (which, coincidentally, was held on her 13th birthday) and $5,000.
In her video submission, Hendrick won judge and Bills' linebacker Bryan Scott over with her love of ballet and her desire, should she win, to use the money to help her ballet studio.
"... Outside of her passion for ballet," Scott told buffalobills.com at the time of the announcement, "what she wanted to do with the prize money was very unselfish. She's giving it all back to her studio to make sure that other ballerinas and other dancers have the same opportunity that she has."
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Bemus Point resident Lauren Hendrick is all smiles after meeting with Buffalo Bills linebacker Bryan Scott at training camp at St. John Fisher College.
Submitted photo
Some six months after taking in the Super Bowl with her father, Hendrick met with Scott at Bills training camp last week and he awarded her the $5,000 in prize money in the form of a giant check.
The grant allowed Hendrick to attend a summer ballet program and will also be used to improve the ballet studio in which she trains.
"I wouldn't have been able to do that program without this," she told buffalobills.com. "The money that helped upgrade our studio was really needed, and I believe it will help attract more students."