Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It has become a norm for "Bills Mafia" to come together and support a cause in honor of someone relating to the Buffalo Bills.
- Andy Dalton's foundation after helping the Bills clinch a playoff berth in 2017. - Dawson Knox after the passing of his brother, Luke, in 2022.
- Damar Hamlin after his sudden cardiac arrest in Cincinnati several months later.
- Tyler Bass after his missed field goal in the 2023 playoffs.
- Tua Tagovailoa after his injury against Buffalo in 2024.
The examples seem countless, and the latest to receive the generosity of "Bills Mafia" is now former head coach Sean McDermott.
During his nine-year tenure leading the Bills, McDermott was not just one of the pinnacles of football in Western New York, but he was also an outstanding representative of the community. Having had no ties to the region before becoming the head coach of the team in 2017, McDermott embraced the community as his own, and helped impact the lives of Bills fans across the nation.
"I know he did a lot of work with some local charities, and he and his wife Jamie were very active in that regard," said Del Reid, founder of 26 Shirts based in Kenmore and co-founder of "Bills Mafia". "And they really believed in supporting the community, 'Blooming where you're planted,' is one phrase you could use. He will be missed in that regard, and here's to hoping that the next person in those shoes will follow in those footsteps."
Reid felt McDermott was one of those people that understands when anyone of his status is given a platform, there's a responsibility that comes with it.
"I think that has always shown through not only his interactions with P.U.N.T. and Make-A-Wish and some other organizations, but also in just how he shaped the culture. You see a lot of Bills players doing things out in the community, and I think he may have played a role in that as well too," Reid said with WBEN. "Those are the kind of players he would look for, and I'm certain that he would also encourage that in the locker room, in practice and whatnot."
Reid has started a campaign of his own through 26 Shirts, selling shirts and hoodies with "Thank you, coach McDermott" that will see funds supporting the Skin Cancer Foundation, another organization McDermott worked closely with in his years spent with the Bills.
"For anybody who watched 'Hard Knocks', which was probably almost every single Bills fan - it's exciting to see the team get that kind of national attention - saw coach McDermott talk about his bouts with skin cancer, and how important it was to him. So it was suggested to me yesterday when the news of the firing came down by fellow Twitter user Bob Piljay to support the Skin Cancer Foundation, I thought that was a great fit," Reid said. "I was tweeting about that and sharing that, and encouraging people to donate there. And then our creative director here, Josh, had the idea to do a shirt and support and allow people to wear on their chest the thankfulness that they have for coach McDermott and what he did to turn this team around. And the natural fit, because all of our shirts help somebody or some organization, was to continue on with that suggestion of the Skin Cancer Foundation."
Reid adds the shirts will be available through Sunday.
Since Tuesday afternoon, the Skin Cancer Foundation has received almost $50,000 from members of "Bills Mafia", and they've all donated in honor of McDermott.
Becky Kamowitz, executive director of the Skin Cancer Foundation, got to work with McDermott personally during the COVID pandemic, and was blown away by his generosity for the cause.
"We were lucky enough to have coach McDermott film a little PSA for us that we were able to push out on our website and our social media feeds. He spoke a lot about his personal experience with skin cancer, talked about how important it is to see a dermatologist for regular skin exams, and then also to protect yourself every day with things like sunscreen, hats, clothing, sunglasses. And he talked about how he did all of that while he was coaching the Bills," said Kamowitz in an interview with WBEN. "We were so grateful to him for using his platform to help educate Americans around the importance of importance of skin cancer prevention and early detection."
McDermott led a few independent fundraisers that were partly dedicated to the Skin Cancer Foundation, including through the NFL's "My Cause, My Cleats" campaign. What made his impact so unique for Kamowitz was how he reached so many people, especially in the male demographic, with information around skin cancer and the importance of protecting themselves and going to see the dermatologist.
"When you have someone like Sean McDermott, who is willing to talk to other men about how important this is and to share his experience of seeking medical help - which we know men don't always do willingly - it really does have an incredible impact," Kamowitz said. "We've heard from a lot of people who say how much they appreciate him telling his story."
Some of those who were moved by McDermott's work through the Skin Cancer Foundation even shared their gratitude in their donations to the organization.
"One of the people who contacted us yesterday and made a donation in his honor said that her mother was actually moved to go get a skin exam after hearing his PSA, and that she was diagnosed with melanoma," Kamowitz noted. "His efforts really did help a lot of people and help support the Skin Cancer Foundation's mission to save and improve lives."
It was about midday Monday when the fundraising team at the Skin Cancer Foundation noticed an influx of small donations that were adding up really quickly. Since then, more people have shared the donation link to the organization, and Kamowitz has been tracking the activity on all the major social media sites.
"We know this originated with a Bills fan who posted on Reddit a way that you can thank coach McDermott for his work in Buffalo is to make a donation to a charity that he supported. That person included a link to the donation page on SkinCancer.org, and we think that just really grew," she said.
Kamowitz adds it's been fun to watch all the different donations and trends with donations over the last several hours.
"We've seen lots of donations for $20.17, which I understand is the year he ended the playoff drought. $17 for the same cause. Several for $106.58, for his 106 wins and 58 losses. $7.16 for the Buffalo area code. And $9 for nine years as a coach. So all over the place. I love the symbolism of it," she noted.
Kamowitz says to join the growing list of movements originated by the generosity of "Bills Mafia" has been overwhelming, to say the least.
"We're so honored that 'Bills Mafia' would think of us at this time, and these funds will go such a long way to supporting our awareness campaigns, our community education programs, our research grants initiatives," she explained. "We'll use these funds to support our free skin cancer screening program, which is called Destination Healthy Skin. We have an RV that travels around the country, we offer free skin cancer screenings in the community we visit. We'll use it to support research grants that fund studies around the prevention, detection and treatment of skin cancer. Our education initiatives, like our annual magazine - The Skin Cancer Foundation Journal. There's a lot of efforts that we make to educate the public around skin cancer, and again, how to prevent it, detect it, and the importance of seeking prompt treatment. So these funds will really help all of those efforts, and again, help us save and improve more lives."
The best way to donate to the Skin Cancer Foundation is by visiting SkinCancer.org/donate, and make sure to put Sean McDermott in the "In honor of" section.
Another organization reaping the benefits of the latest "Bills Mafia" movement in support of McDermott is Make-A-Wish of Western New York.
McDermott helped partner with Make-A-Wish of Western New York on a number of occasions to help make the wish of several kids locally and nationally come true. Mary Hazel, director of development with Make-A-Wish of Western New York believes McDermott truly understood in the power of the organization and what they do on a regular basis.
"As we all saw, he led by example. He was always so welcoming to our Wish kids, the players were, and leading by example is such a powerful thing," said Hazel in an interview with WBEN.
"We live in a Buffalo Bills town, so it's no surprise that we have Wish kids that, for their wishes, wish to be a part of the Buffalo Bills organization for a day. A lot of these are local kids, and we've even had kids from all over the country that have actually wished for Buffalo Bills wishes, which is pretty amazing. And truly, I can't say enough about how wonderful Sean McDermott was to each and every Wish kid. He made them feel included and part of the team for that day, and was just so welcoming. He was everything you would have expected him to be for our Wish kids, and Make-A-Wish was just incredibly grateful for everything that he did to make our Wish kids' wish memorable and extra special."
One of Hazel's favorite memories of McDermott's work with the organization was a few years back with Caleb Foarde, a cancer patient from Florida whose wish was to be a member of the Bills.
"Sean McDermott, right in the beginning of his team meeting, talked about this special guest they were going to have for the day, and he just welcomed Caleb into that room. The whole team cheered for him, and it was really Sean McDermott who kind of led the charge in setting the stage for this just incredible, life-changing experience for Caleb and his family. That was Sean McDermott when it came to Make-A-Wish. Really, really incredible," Hazel shared.
Hazel knows well there's no community quite like Buffalo and certainly "Bills Mafia". That's why she was humbled when the local organization Hope Rises - led by former local media personality Kate Glaser - did a recent social media post looking for another local organization to support in honor of McDermott.
"[They] said, 'Hey, who are we donating to in Sean's honor?' And it was really cool. A lot of people were calling out Make-A-Wish, they remembered him being involved in wishes. A lot of actual Wish parents were calling out that it should be from Make-A-Wish of Western New York," Hazel noted. "One thing led to the other, and we are right around $5,000 and counting that people have donated all in honor of Sean McDermott, in support of our incredible life-changing mission."
Hazel was amazed at the number of people calling the Make-A-Wish office in Western New York, and the flood of popular $19 donations made to the organization, recognizing McDermott as the 19th head coach in franchise history.
"It's really inspiring to see a story that a lot of people feel sad and quite emotional about, but trying to create good and making our community a better place. It's been a really inspiring piece of this whole story unfolding, and we're so grateful to Sean for everything he's done for Make-A-Wish, and for the Buffalo community and 'Bills Mafia' for rallying around our mission, and showing love for Sean McDermott and for our mission," Hazel said.
"We don't get any state or federal funding, we're very grassroots, fundraising in our community to grant wishes for our kids. So to see the Buffalo Bills community rallying around this and supporting us, in lieu of news that a lot of people feel sad about, we're pretty touched by it."
The best way to support Make-A-Wish of Western New York is by visiting WNY.Wish.org and clicking the "Donate Now" tab.
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