For Buffalo fans, Bills Mafia means family, and giving back to others is a way of life
What do you think of when you hear "Bills Mafia"?
If your initial thoughts involve viral videos of Buffalo Bills fans jumping through folding tables at pregame tailgates, you're not alone.
But you're also missing the full story and true character of Bills Mafia, who will be cheering from home and in New Orleans when the Bills visit the Saints on Thursday night.
Ask Nick Mayerik about his 6-year-old son, Eddie, whose heart swells with love for the Bills community even after eight open heart surgeries.
Ask Leslie Wille, a Bills Mafia co-founder whose 9-year-old son, Milo, has a benign brain tumor and doesn’t know anything less than royal treatment from fellow Bills fans.
And Kristen Kimmick, the founder of Bills Mafia Babes, about the family she leans on since losing three family members in the last four years.
For Buffalo Bills fans, “mafia means family.” And that family is among the most gracious in the NFL, constantly giving back to the community and to charitable causes championed by Bills players and even players from opposing teams.
Bills Mafia especially loves going out of the way to help its own.
“It's just kind of like you have a soft barrier, where you know that no matter what happens in your life, the mafia is always going to be behind you,” Kimmick said.
When the Cincinnati Bengals won a late-season game in 2017 that helped the Bills sneak into the playoffs for the first time in 17 years, Bills fans poured $415,000 into Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton's foundation for seriously ill children. In return, the Dalton family donated to the pediatric department of Buffalo's Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.
When Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson was unable to finish a playoff game last season in Buffalo, Bills fans donated nearly half a million dollars in his honor to the Louisville chapter of Blessings in a Backpack.
The cause reminded them of Pancho Billa, Bills superfan Ezra Castro, who died from cancer in 2019. Every year, Bills fans raise money for Pancho’s Packs because Castro’s dying wish was for people to not send flowers but fill backpacks for children in need.
And Bills quarterback Josh Allen lost his grandmother in 2019, fans donated more than $1.4 million to John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital in Buffalo, leading to the Patricia Allen Pediatric Recovery Wing on the hospital’s 10th floor, which was unveiled last month.
“Buffalo Bills fans and charity kind of go together at this point, like peanut butter and jelly,” Kimmick said. “It's literally like the cool thing to do in Buffalo is to be kind and charitable.”
While that’s one way to describe it, Bills fans often have a tough time explaining the origins of their giving nature.
Maybe, it’s because most Bills fans are from the Buffalo and Western New York area, where they say a strong sense of community comes from treating neighbors with kindness.
Thanks to social media, the mafia’s ties now know no bounds or limits.
Maybe, it’s because Bills fans had so much pent-up passion after their run to four straight Super Bowls, which didn’t end their way in the early 1990s, long before Allen and coach Sean McDermott showed up.
“It’s like a shared experience of misery,” said Wille, who along with Del Reid and Breyon Harris coined the phrase Bills Mafia in 2011. “I think for so many years, Bills fans had all this passion but really nowhere to put it.”
Donating also gives Bills fans a way of being closer to their favorite players and coaches, who they may never meet in person.
Whenever there’s a cause to contribute to, Bills fans answer the call. When they see their donations steadily rise, it brings a euphoria similar to seeing Allen lead the Bills downfield for a touchdown.
“I think it's a fun way to see your impact as a fan done in a tangible way,” said Reid, whose Bills merchandise company 26 Shirts passed the $1 million donation mark last December “The way I look at it is it's when all the fans are kicking in and we're watching those donation totals go higher and higher, it really is like ‘yeah, I'm a Bills fan.’ And this is all of us working together to show our love for the team.”
Mayerik, a Bills fan who lives outside of Chicago, feels the love whenever he shares an update or heartwarming video of Eddie, who is often dressed head to toe in Bills gear with an oxygen tube under his nose.
Eddie, who loves sending birthday shoutouts or “Go Bills!” videos to fans on social media, underwent his eighth heart surgery at Stanford University in September. The months leading to the 24-hour procedure, which his father considered a “Hail Mary” to help with two heart defects, were excruciating.
Earlier this year, Bills fans started “Eddie’s Infantry" and raised money for him by selling shirts. Fans from all over the country sent a flood of packages daily to the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford to help the family and regularly reached out on social media.
Mayerik said those messages mean everything to him.
“I felt a connection, like people cared, you know?” Mayerik said. “And to be completely honest with you, I feel like I’ve been more loved, more supported, there’s more people that care in Bills Mafia than my immediate family around here sometimes, the way they lifted me up.”
Wille never expected to be on the receiving end of the fan base’s generosity. But when Milo was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2019, Bills Mafia was there for them.
26 Shirts provided a shirt to raise money that Wille used for expenses. And #MiloMafia turned into a trending topic among Bills fans, much to Milo’s enjoyment.
“He tells people that he's famous and that he has fans," Wille said with a laugh. "It was really cool and it definitely kept his spirits up.”
One day after Milo was released from the hospital, he spent his 7th birthday inside the owners’ suite for a Bills game, where team owner Kim Peluga had a football cake ready for him to celebrate during halftime.
“That was undoubtedly the most difficult time in my life,” Wille said as her voice swelled. “I had people who I'd never met, people who I maybe only interacted with once or twice, reaching out. I mean, it literally propped me up. I don't know how else to say how that gave us hope and they kept us going.”
Kimmick, whose Bills Mafia Babes Facebook group ballooned to more than 16,000 members, also never expected to feel the love she tries to share as a Bills fan.
Since raising about $7,000 for Dion’s Dreamers as a thank you to left tackle Dion Dawkins for defending Allen during a scuffle in the AFC title game last season, the group became certified as a non-profit and started monthly partnerships with Bills players to contribute to charitable efforts.
Over the last four years, Kimmick lost “three pillars” in her life: her significant other died in 2017, her dad in 2019 and her dog, named after old Bills coach Marv Levy, in 2020.
The Babes, as she affectionately refers to her group, and other Bills Mafia members still stand by her side.
“Personally, for me, it's like I lost all these — and so, that can be a really scary moment,” Kimmick said. “But at the same time, like, I've made it through the last couple of years, and I've been okay because at the end of the day, I've got the mafia behind me.”
The mafia is also behind Kids Escaping Drugs, a 77-bed campus treating children and young adults ages 12 to 25 for substance abuse and mental health issues.
Kimmick recently joined forces with 26 Shirts to raise more than $6,000 in donations for the organization.
And Bills safety Jordan Poyer, who has been open about his struggles with alcoholism, helped host a Thanksgiving dinner last week for kids living on campus, their families, and employees. Poyer, running back Zack Moss and cornerback Levi Wallace served food and provided the families with a turkey to take home, some fixings and a $100 grocery store gift cards.
“You know, initially the kids don't get it. But then, they start to get it," said Jodie Altman, deputy executive director of Kids Escaping Drugs. "And they start to realize that there are people out there that care about them. But more importantly, that they're worthy of being cared about.”
Bills players and fans will continue to change lives through giving.
They take pride in lending a helping hand, whether in the form of a supportive message or a simple donation, large or small.
“Your fandom can change the life of someone else for the better. That’s what’s so awesome about Bills Mafia, is that we've all kind of embraced this perspective,” Reid said. “We make a difference, and it's something I'm so proud of."