For Kristen Kimmick, being a Bills fan has become a way of life. This season, she’s going to every game, home and away.

“It’s just such a vibe,” Kimmick said. “Everywhere that you go you get to meet other people and everybody’s so nice. And everybody, we’re just all going for the same thing.”

Kimmick is eager to talk football with anyone she meets. But she’s also found not everyone feels the same way, especially on social media.

“I just got a little frustrated because as a woman that’s very into football, sometimes you get mansplained or talked down to or you get judged a little bit,” she said.

So almost seven years ago, Kimmick started a private Facebook group for a few female friends to have a safe space to discuss the Bills. Well, she was onto something. The Bills Mafia Babes group she founded has now grown to more than 23,000 members.

“We’re here,” she explained. “We have a voice, and also that we’re worthy of being here. We belong to have a seat at this table. We belong to break those glass ceilings.”

And in true Bills Mafia fashion, helping others has become central to what the Bills Mafia Babes do. They’ve formed a non-profit organization, working with a different Bills player or staff member each month. Between fundraisers, drives and volunteer work, they raised more than $200,000 in their first year.

“We work really hard at it, but it’s also fun,” Kimmick said. “It’s fun to do good things and feel good about that, and it’s also fun to be able to run at your passion.”

Kimmick’s passion has taken her across the country with Bills Mafia. Perhaps the most meaningful trip came in 2020 when the Bills played at Kansas City in the AFC Championship game. Her father, the man who taught her about football and about life, was a big time Chiefs fan. He died unexpectedly the year prior. They had always planned to go to K.C. for a game together, and despite his passing, she still made it happen, in a different way.

”I knew I had to go, because now our teams were good and I had to get us both in that stadium,” she said. “I took a necklace of him with me and we went and we stood there. In a way it was some closure. Personally, it was some closure, but we still got that moment.”

And she’s still waiting on another moment and another road trip, the day the Bills finally win a Super Bowl.

“I think it’s going to be everything that we’ve ever dreamed of but probably more than that because Bills fans are extra,” Kimmick said. “We’re extra.”