BUFFALO, N.Y. — For a fan base with so much heart, the end to the Buffalo Bills' 2021-22 season seemed like a contradiction. After frigid games and lots of generosity, the Bills' loss to the Kansas City Chiefs was a heartbreaker.
But rather than dwelling on that fact, let's highlight some of the love that was shared this season and should not be forgotten.
"The truth is we might be the table smashers because that's part of our history but the people of Buffalo and Bills Mafia across the nation and the globe are really truly community people," said Allegra Jaros, President at Oishei Children's Hospital.
Oishei has been the focus of a lot of giving this season with no more perfect example of fans' generosity than the naming of a pediatric recovery wing at the hospital to honor quarterback Josh Allen's late Grandmother, Patricia Allen.
"I remember we were just about to hit the $500,000 dollar mark for the Patricia Allen fund and I had to stop for a minute," Jaros said.
Donations had been rolling in from everywhere, Germany, Italy, Florida, and more - the trend started in the 2020-2021 season and kept growing from there. Chiefs Nation even ended this latest season by giving several hundred thousand dollars to the fund for such a hard-fought battle.
"It's very cool to be a Bills fan but people are starting to copy us now but I guess that's a good thing to be mimicked for," Victoria Pascuzzi said with a chuckle.
Pascuzzi and her friend Drew called on Twitter to support the Emmanuel Sanders Foundation back in December.
"I was thinking of maybe we'll raise a few hundred bucks or something I did not imagine that it would be over $6,000 dollars," she said.
The money was donated to the Boys and Girls Club of Buffalo and went towards a game room at their location on Babcock Street, complete with a ping pong table, pool table, and more. The donations from Bills Mafia came at a difficult time for Sanders, following the death of Demaryius Thomas, his former teammate on the Denver Broncos. The contributions of $10.88 were a combo of both Sanders' and Thomas' numbers.
"I just remember thinking it was such an incredible thing that is so Buffalonian to do to want to wrap our arms around somebody who's in pain that means so much to us," Jaros said.
Echoing Jaros, Pascuzzi added.
"We are more than just about chugging beers and breaking tables and stuff like we genuinely love our city and love giving to other cities, that's kind of our love language if you will," Pascuzzi said.
And Bills Mafia is showing no sign of stopping their generosity so maybe someday 'Bills by a Billion' can carry a whole new meaning linked to generosity.
RELATED STORY: