Zorotovich to attend opening Griz game in Tennessee
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POLSON — Nick Zorotovich was celebrating his 15th birthday in a park with his family when he received his biggest present of the day. Griz Kids of Missoula presented him with a University of Montana Grizzlies football jersey and three tickets to the Grizzlies first game in Tennessee.
“We’re all Griz fans and in a couple of days we're going to be huge Griz fans,” Kerri said two days before the opening game.
Nick, his mother Kerri and stepfather Marty Stewart, were selected by Griz Kids to fly in a chartered airplane with the football team to their opening game.
Griz Kids is a non-profit program created to provide financially disadvantaged children in Montana with the opportunity to attend Grizzly home football games. The program was created after six former football players recognized that some families could not afford to attend games. Griz Kids has hosted such groups as the Montana School for the Deaf and Blind, Big Brothers and Big Sisters and Missoula Youth Homes.
This year, instead of just attending a home game, one lucky child had the opportunity to fly with the team and attend the first game of the season.
This was also the first year Griz Kids approached the Child Development Center in Missoula. The CDC offers services to families and children with developmental disabilities or delays.
CDC Program Coordinator Suzanne Sterrett nominated Nick along with a few other children and to her delight discovered that Nick was selected.
“He’s deserving,” Sterrett said. “He is a really good kid with a very supporting family.”
Nick and his family were picked up in a limo and stayed at the Wingate Hotel in Missoula. The next morning they were picked up in the same limo and taken to their flight.
“He (Nick) has never been on an airplane,” Marty said. “It’s going to be an awesome trip. He is excited.”
“We are absolutely thrilled,” Kerri said. “This is his extended birthday present.”
