Andy Dalton Saved Buffalo’s Season — and Bills Fans Responded by Flooding his Charity with Donations

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton is an unlikely hero in Buffalo, NY. With one improbable last-minute touchdown pass against the Baltimore Ravens Sunday, Dalton knocked the Ravens out of playoff position, clearing the way for the Bills’ first postseason appearance since 1999, and inspiring thousands of Buffalo Bills supporters to flood his charity with donations.

Dalton told the Associated Press Wednesday that Bills fans had donated over $270,000 to Dalton’s charity — via tens of thousands of individual $17-dollar-donations — a nod to the fact that Dalton’s pass ended a 17-year-playoff drought for Buffalo.

The Andy & Jordan Dalton Foundation provides money, support and inspirational experiences for seriously ill children and families in the Cincinnati and Fort Worth areas.

Dalton, a graduate of Texas Christian University, was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He co-founded the charity with his wife Jordan in order to payback and support the two communities that have played host to Dalton’s collegiate and professional football exploits.

A spokesperson for the foundation said Wednesday that the spontaneous outpouring of support from Buffalo fans will allow the foundation to triple the number of families they can sponsor over the current year.

The organization typically receives more applications for help than it’s able to provide, but thanks to Dalton’s unlikely throw — and an even more unlikely outpouring of charitable support from Buffalo’s fan base — all that is about to change.

“This money is going to allow us to not worry about accepting those extra applications each month,” a spokesperson for the foundation said.

As of Wednesday, the donations pouring out of Buffalo had helped the foundation to already achieve their annual fundraising goal for 2018. According to the same spokesperson, the donations continue to pour in as fast as their servers can process them.