By Bill Koch
Enquirer staff reporter

Doug Pelfrey's Kicks for Kids Foundation, which he founded in 1995, is expected this year to pass the $1 million mark in funds raised to help at-risk kids.

That's a number that Pelfrey, a Scott High School graduate who played for the Bengals from 1993-99, is proud of, but what's more important to him are the kids the money has helped.

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"You don't do this to go past a certain mark," Pelfrey said. "It's kind of like kicking field goals. You don't set goals for personal stuff, but if you're making a lot of kicks you're helping the team. We're doing a good job helping kids."

Pelfrey established his foundation after his first two years with the Bengals. He found himself doing a lot of speaking and charity events. Some of the groups, he said, were doing a good job fulfilling their mission. He wasn't so sure about some of the others.

"I decided to start my own charity so I could watch every single dollar," Pelfrey said. "What we've done over the last several years is identify charities or groups in the area who do a good job with the money we raise. Now we're becoming more of a resource for charity, trying to buy some land that other charities can use."

For Pelfrey, who played at the University of Kentucky, it's a way to nurture the roots of the community in which he was raised.

"This is my community," he said. "This is where I grew up. Not only is this the area where I played ball, it's also the area where I raise my kids, so I feel much more of a responsibility to give back.

"I feel like God blessed me to go to the University of Kentucky and to play (professionally) in my own hometown."

Kicks for Kids' annual River Run raises money for the Aaron W. Perlman Center for Children at Children's Hospital Medical Center - a division of United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Cincinnati - and for Special Olympics.

The Great Outdoor Adventure offers kids from the inner city and rural kids a day of fishing, horseback riding and hayrides.

There's a Kicks for Kids Field of Dreams that fulfills the wishes of critically or chronically ill children. And for the first time this year, the foundation sponsored a baseball clinic in July.

"Our goal is to start doing more camps and provide quality instruction for kids who can't afford to go to camps," said Ted Kluemper, executive director of Kicks for Kids.

In 2000, Pelfrey received the Byron "Whizzer" White Award for serving his team, community and country in the spirit of NFL Hall of Famer and Supreme Court Justice Byron Raymond White.

"When I'm doing charitable work," Pelfrey said, "I get tenfold back from the feeling that you get after you help somebody."