Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Erie County's suite at the new Highmark Stadium will be filled with non-profit organizations. One of the will be Gateway Longview, which won the lottery for Thanksgiving night when the Buffalo Bills host the Kansas City Chiefs.
"I think our our staff when we got the news was just ecstatic," says Mario Hicks of Gateway Longview. He says it's a big morale booster. Hicks says a number of staffers heard about the lottery and decided to take a chance.
How tough will it be to decide who goes to that game? "Our service we offer is very diverse, as well as the outreach across Erie and Niagara County. We have residential respite community home-based services, and so we have youth in our care. So, when we put this together, we were thinking about our youth, families, and staff. So we'll come together and really see what's the the appropriate mix of youth, family, and staff that'll that'll get to attend the game," replies Hicks.
Hicks says the Bills are familiar with Gateway Longview. "We're grateful once in a while that even the Bills during the holiday season will come to our campus. Some of the Bills players who who connect with our mission. So so for us to be there and. And you know, potentially, we could maybe reach out and say, "Hey, we're going to be bringing some of our kids to to the game. Would would be great as well," notes Hicks.
One Bill in particular is Ray Davis. "When he comes to campus, all he wants to do is spend time with the youth in our care and just encouraging them to continue on their own individual journeys and to really connect with those who they define as family and not necessarily maybe in that that traditional sense, but in the sense that makes for for each individual youth," adds Hicks.
