UPDATE, Jan. 26, 6:30 a.m. | Oishei Children's Hospital in Buffalo has now received over $255,000 in donations from Chiefs fans.
Thank you @OxfordPennant for your continued partnership and helping our hospital here in Buffalo! That brings the total to an incredible $255,017! Thank you #ChiefsKingdom for this amazing support for our children's hospital and the kids & families we care for. #BillsMafia https://t.co/v7scUOGudo
— Oishei Children's Hospital (@OCHBuffalo) January 26, 2022
UPDATE, Jan. 26, 8:20 a.m. | Chiefs Kingdom has now donated over $170,000 to Oishei Children's Hospital in Buffalo.
ORIGINAL STORY, Jan. 25 | Chiefs Kingdom is showing its respect to Bills Mafia and Josh Allen after an incredible game of football.
Chiefs fans are donating to a foundation close to Bills' quarterback Josh Allen's heart.
Bills Mafia knows a thing a two about being generous. Bills fans donated to Chiefs Safety Tyrann Mathieu's foundation leading up to the game.
Now, it's Chiefs Kingdom's turn to pay it forward, and it all started with one die-hard fan in San Antonio, Texas.
Brett Fitzgerald lives and breathes for his Kansas City Chiefs and decided to encourage fans to raise money for Patrick Mahomes' 15 and the Mahomies Foundation after Sunday's big win.
Fitzgerald posted about his idea to donate $13 toward the foundation, which represents the drive that sent the game to overtime in the final thirteen seconds.
After speaking with a friend who brought up the generosity of Bills Mafia, Fitzgerald decided to switch the donations to the Patricia Allen Fund, which honors Josh Allen's late grandmother and benefits the Oishei Children's Hospital in Buffalo, New York.
"It's to celebrate the Chiefs victory while giving due respect to Josh Allen, Bills and Bill Mafia," Fitzgerald said.
Die-hard, life-long fans like Kristi Lawler, resident of Denton, Texas, heard the call and jumped at the chance to show some love to Bills Mafia.
"You guys aren’t going anywhere, the Bills aren’t going anywhere, Josh Allen isn’t going anywhere, he is phenomenal, great team," Lawler said. "I just think the mad love and mad respect is just, the world needs more of it for sure right now, but I just think it’s amazing, I think it’s great."
Lawler said she believes the two teams will be seeing a lot of each other over the next few years and Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen are the future of the game.
"We have mad respect for Josh Allen, I think he is amazing," Lawler said.
Fitzgerald posted about the donations on his Facebook page called Chiefs Kingdom Memes where he posts memes about the Chiefs and said it took off instantly.
"It's pretty amazing, I mean I'm real proud of Chiefs Kingdom for this and loving the response from Bills Mafia, I mean man this is, what a rivalry, we've got a good decade of this going on, this is going to be fun," Fitzgerald said.
The $13 donations are adding up fast.
Andrew Bennett, vice president of The Children's Hospital of Buffalo Foundation, said as of Tuesday afternoon the hospital had received about 4,000 donations, which totaled more than $60,000.
"This is just a really cool thing to see, and unexpected but very generous and it is going to go a long, long, way no doubt about that," Bennett said.
Bennett said the hospital is the only children's hospital in the eight county region and the hub for pediatric healthcare. Every dollar makes a huge difference.
"We have a very, very high Medicaid rate here in Buffalo, so seven out of 10 kids that come through our doors, they and their families cannot pay for their healthcare," Bennett said.
While Sunday's loss was a hard pill to swallow, Bennett said Buffalo is incredibly proud of the Bills and Josh Allen. He said the generosity of Chiefs fans is making the loss a little easier.
"We are grateful for every single person that has and is likely to donate over the next few days," Bennett said. "Good luck against the Bengals."
The hospital will provide an update on the amount of money donated Wednesday.
