Josh Allen's game-day hats raise $139k for Buffalo children's hospital

Allen has worn hats designed by young patients at a Buffalo hospital to each Bills' home game this season

Cover Image for Josh Allen's game-day hats raise $139k for Buffalo children's hospital
The hat Josh Allen wore to the Bills' final home game sold for $30,100 in the charity auction. (Credit: Getty Images)

In all likelihood, Josh Allen won't repeat as NFL MVP this season. But there's zero doubt he's the MVP to the kids at Golisano Children’s Hospital in Buffalo, New York.

All this season, the Buffalo Bills quarterback has worn custom New Era hats to each home game that were designed by a different patient at Golisano, which was formerly called Oishei Children's Hospital before a Jan. 1 name change.

After each game, Allen signed the respective hat before it was sent to auction. All proceeds from each sale then go to the Patricia Allen Fund (named after Allen's grandmother) to benefit critical care teams at Golisano.

After nine home games and subsequent auctions this season, $139,095 was raised for the critical care units serving Western New York's children and families.

The week-by-week breakdown is as follows:

  • Week 18: Morgan’s cap - $30,100
  • Week 17: Nico’s cap - $16,050
  • Week 14: Ruby’s cap - $20,000
  • Week 11: Max & Ben’s cap - $14,100
  • Week 9: Carson’s cap - $13,550
  • Week 5: Bryn’s cap - $9,050
  • Week 4: Charlie’s cap - $3,600
  • Week 3: MaKenzie’s cap - $15,495
  • Week 1: Jaxson’s cap - $17,150

In November 2020, Allen scored a touchdown and pointed to the sky for his grandmother in a Bills win over the Seattle Seahawks. To support Allen, fans across the world began donating increments of $17 (his jersey number) to the hospital, a cause which has been close to Allen's heart since he was drafted to Buffalo in 2018.

More than 30,000 donors from all 50 states and 10 countries contributed, leading to the hospital to create the Patricia Allen Fund. Within the first month of its existence, the fund raised over $1 million. A wing of the hospital is now named in her honor.

Football fans might recall a video of Allen watching patients from the hospital congratulate him after winning MVP.

"My job's not that hard," Allen said after watching the video. "I play football. What you guys have to go through and continue to fight through is much harder than I do. And I look up to you as much as you look up to me."

In addition to this initiative, each year Allen has supported the hospital via the NFL's "My Cause My Cleats" in which patients have helped him design his game cleats. This year's cleats were designed by 11 different patients from Golisano.

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Matt Liberman is a reporter and video producer for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.