Kicks For Kids once again invited local children to exercise their artistic talents to help with the 13th Annual Christmas Celebration. For the third year in a row, we held a coloring contest, asking kids to draw their favorite Christmas scene. Among dozens of entries, three winners were chosen and their drawings were featured on the invitations and Christmas cards for the event.

On January 25th the winners were rewarded for their creativity and efforts with a pizza party for their classrooms. They also received a special visit from a former Bengals’ Kicker. Fourth grader, Danielle Baltrusch, was the winner from Staci Hathaway’s class at Hopewell Elementary. The Bengals’ all-time leading scorer, Jim Breech, not only paid Danielle a visit, but awarded her an autographed football; it was signed by Jim, Doug Pelfrey and Shayne Graham. Both Danielle and her classmates sported their Bengals’ colors that afternoon, as they intently listened to Jim talk about his years in the NFL, as well as the value of education.

The two other winners were Emily Graham and Laura Brown, who are both fifth graders in Ms. Conley’s classroom at Florence Elementary. Their drawings were featured on the front and back of the Christmas invitation. KFK founder and former kicker, Doug Pelfrey, visited their classroom, and also gave first place winner, Emily Graham, an autographed football. The students savored the pizza as they wrapped up their school day, listening to Doug and Principal Charlie Walton talk about the importance of giving back to your community and helping other people.