Chiefs fans donate $178,000 to Buffalo children’s hospital after thrilling overtime win over Bills

The Buffalo Bills have proven to have one of the NFL‘s most charitable fanbases over the last few years, and Kansas City Chiefs fans followed suit after their team’s Divisional Round win. Chiefs fans donated $178,000 to Buffalo’s Oishei Children’s Hospital after Kansas City’s thrilling 42-36 overtime victory.  

Chiefs fans began donating $13 each to the hospital thanks to a post from the Facebook account “Chiefs Kingdom Memes.” The $13 figure, of course, is a nod to the 13 seconds the Chiefs had left on their final drive of regulation. On the drive, Patrick Mahomes hit Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce for gains of 19 and 25 to set up a game-tying 49-yard field goal from Harrison Butker as time expired.

Kansas City got the ball first in overtime, and minutes later Mahomes found Kelce again, this time for an eight-yard touchdown to win the game and clinch a record fourth consecutive AFC Championship game at Arrowhead Stadium. 

Over 9,800 Chiefs fans flooded Oishei Children’s Hospital with donations after the win, totaling $178,000 within 24 hours. 

Chiefs Kingdom Meme’s page owner, Brett Fitzgerald, told WKBW in Buffalo he originally planned to fundraise for one of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes‘ charities. Fitzgerald, however, decided otherwise after consulting with another fan and concluding Bills fans would’ve donated to a Kansas City charity if their team won. 

Buffalo fans have long been generous to non-Bills charities. In 2021 alone, Buffalo fans contributed to Lamar Jackson’s favorite charity after he suffered a concussion against the Bills in last year’s divisional round loss; they also contributed $40,000 to a visual-impairment charity to poke fun at the “blind refs” working the Bills’ Week 14 loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

But Bills fans’ charitable work doesn’t end there. After Bills quarterback Josh Allen led his team to a 44-34 win over the Seattle Seahawks in December 2020, the news of his grandmother dying a day before became public. Buffalo fans responded by donating over $1.4 million – many in $17 increments to honor Allen’s jersey number – to Oishei Children’s Hospital. 

Oishei Children’s Hospital created the Patricia Allen Fund to honor Allen’s grandmother in October 2021.