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Bengals Kicker Shayne Graham and The Thank You Foundation Honor Troops

CINCINNATI OH - October 18th 2008 - Soldiers from the 478th Engineer Battalion and their families got to spend time with one of their gridiron heroes on Saturday, Bengals kicker Shayne Graham.

The soldiers who recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq were honored at the Gold Star Chili on Plainfield Road in Blue Ash this past Saturday as part of The Thank You Foundations "Tickets for Troops" program.

Each soldier received tickets to an upcoming Bengals home game as well as other gifts including Certificates of Appreciation from the Foundation.

"This is great, the community support has been awesome and for Shayne to spend his personal time with us just goes to show what a great guy he is." Said First Sergeant Abel Rodriguez

Graham spent time signing autographs and talking with the troops and their families for almost 2 hours.

The Foundation enlisted two of its corporate partners to help honor the troops on Saturday. Gold Star Chili provided lunch for the guests and special Bengals Gift Packs to each soldier. Eva Keller of BAE Systems in Fairfield gave each soldier a special challenge coin along with an invitation for the troops to come out and visit the facility which builds the MRAP units that protected the troops in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

For the second year in a row Bengals Quarterback Coach Ken Zampese has donated tickets to The Cincinnati VA and Public Affairs Officer Todd Sledge has worked with the Foundations Tickets for Troops program to get the tickets to returning soldiers or soldiers home on leave from Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition each soldier is provided dinner at the Behle Street Café in Covington after the game.

Foundation President and Founder John Guinn stated, "We are very fortunate to have partners like Gold Star and BAE. Both companies truly appreciate the service of these men and women and have gone to great lengths to show their appreciation and to support The Thank You Foundation.

Guinn also added, "We have been able to work with Shayne on a number of activities to honor troops. Shayne is such a community minded person and his heart is in the right place. Shayne's dad is a Vietnam Veteran so he knows how important this is to them."