This Saturday Bills safety Bryan Scott will be handing over two very valuable tickets to 12-year old Lauren Hendrick of Bemus Point, NY and her dad. Hendrick was the grand prize winner of Scott's 'Show your Dedication' contest earning a pair of tickets to Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis and $5,000.
Scott launched the contest in conjunction with the release of his music single 'Dedicated' in the hopes of inspiring people to continue with or re-discover their passion in life. The contest required entrants to send in a video detailing their passion and why it was so important to them.
Passion naturally can come in many forms and Scott was given the full spectrum with the entries he received.
"We had some really, really great submissions," Scott told Buffalobills.com. "There were hundreds of submissions from 32 different states. It ranged from everything from parents passionate about parenting, teachers passionate about teaching. We had clay animations, musicians, film producers, people involved in various sports. So just about every way you could imagine it people were really trying to put their passion on display."
In the end Lauren's video stood out with the 12-year old's selflessness possibly serving as the clincher.
"Lauren in her video, she talked about her passion for ballet," said Scott. "It really just amazed me when she said she had been dancing for 10 years. I'm looking at her and thinking she couldn't be much older than 10 years. Then outside of the passion for ballet, 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 opportunities that she has. So those were some of the things that really stood out."
Add in the fact that Hendrick's birthday is the same day as Super Bowl XLVI and she was an easy choice. For the Bemus Point, NY native it will be the first ever pro football game she will attend in person.
Scott did not speak to her until about a week after Hendrick found out she had won the contest, but that didn't mean the 12-year old winner wasn't wrought with nerves on the phone with the Bills safety.
"The thing is I would ask her questions and I'd be getting one word responses and as soon as we got off the phone, we got a post on Facebook from her mom that said Lauren has finally settled down and is able to breathe now and has many questions for you," said Scott laughing. "It was really good to get her on the phone. So I'm really excited to meet them in person."
Hendrick will be recording her Super Bowl experience and send it back to Scott to post on his website about a week after the Super Bowl.
Scott is just happy his first contest was such a success and hopes to make it an annual thing.
"I think the response and participation we got was tremendous in terms of it being the first year," he said. "Really the end result is not just trying to make someone's dream come true of attending the biggest game in the world. It really is to give people that opportunity and push them back into whatever they're passionate about. So many people say they haven't done something they love for so long, but they don't because they don't have the time for it. Or they abandoned it and never picked it back up. I was kind of hoping this would inspire people to get back into their passion and get the bug again to do what they love."
