BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- The Bills Mafia is known for passionately supporting the Buffalo Bills, but the group goes beyond supporting their own team.
Time and time again, they have raised significant amounts of money for various causes, and the Tua Foundation is the most recent, donating at least $16,000.
“Being in the Dolphins fans’ positions and trying to put myself there, I would have instantly been sick to my stomach,” said Kristen Kimmick, the founder of Bills Mafia Babes.
What began as an attempt by Miami Dolphins’ Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to pick up a first down ended with him colliding headfirst into the body of Bills safety Damar Hamlin. The hit left Tagovailoa lying on the field for several minutes. Later, the Dolphins confirmed he had suffered a concussion, his third since 2022.
“It wasn't that hard of a hit, but I think it was just scary on so many levels because it was Damar that he hit in the chest on top of it,” Kimmick said. “He came into it directly with his head where we know he's having massive concussion issues.”
Bills Mafia Babes was started over eight years ago to give female Bills fans a safe space to discuss football.
“When I started it, I just threw like 25 to 50 women into a group that I'd known through either bigger mafia platforms or all the girls that I tailgated with,” Kimmick said. “Threw them all in, named it the Bills Mafia Babes, said ‘let’s go.’"
The group was asked on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, what the Tua Foundation was. They provided a link and donations began to pour in.
Now, the Facebook group has almost 40,000 members. Kimmick said she saw so many of the women trying to fundraise for different causes within the group, which is when she made the decision to become a nonprofit.
“Our mission there is that we work, you know, with or in honor of a specific player each month and if a player has a charity that they're really passionate about, we'll raise funds, you know, donate, do raffles as much as we can to raise funds for them for those 30 days,” Kimmick said.
Bills fans first started donating to charitable organizations in 2017 after Bengals Quarterback Andy Dalton led Cincinnati to a win over the Ravens, ending the Bills’ 17-year long playoff drought.
The mafia thanked Dalton by donating over $400,000 to his foundation. They've also helped out organizations supported by kicker Tyler Bass and Hamlin.
Kimmick said helping others is what being a Bills fan is all about.
“It's not the breaking tables, it's not the perceived getting drunk every Sunday,” Kimmick said. “I think what it really is is seeing everybody come together to be nice because frankly, that’s the root of Buffalo.”
Even though the Dolphins are technically a rival team, Gimmick said that disappears once the athletes are off the field.
“There's nothing better than being able to help out people that aren’t able to be in a situation sometimes to help themselves, so it's just a win, win, win across the board,” Kimmick said.
This month, Bills Mafia Babes were inspired by Keon Coleman wearing his bright yellow coat. They are now collecting funds along with new and gently used winter items and coats to benefit Friends of Night People.
Find a list of drop off locations on the Bills Mafia Babes’ Facebook page.
Trina Catterson joined the News 4 team in 2024. She previously worked at WETM-TV in Elmira, a sister station of WIVB. See more of her work here.
