Outside NFL stadiums and at roadside pit stops, Michael Jaczewski has grown used to the double takes and curious stares.
For the last several months, Jaczewski has been on a cross-country road trip driving a custom Ford Bronco decked out in Buffalo Bills
colors, with a QR code directing people to a website about his mission: to attend all 17 Bills games this season and raise money for children's hospitals.He calls it the "17 for 17 Tour," and at the end of the season will donate all proceeds to hospitals around the United States. Fans can also enter to win the Bronco truck in a separate giveaway, with no donation required. The campaign started as a way for Jaczewski to honor his late father, but also dovetails with the Bills Mafia's nationally
recognized culture of philanthropy.
"Buffalo Bills rank as the No. 1 fans in the league, and I think it's because we care more about people and players' lives and them as individuals, not just what they do on the football field," Jaczewski told USA TODAY Sports on a phone call while he drove back to Buffalo from Las Vegas following the Bills' Week 6 win over the Raiders. "There's a lot of ex-players that still live in Buffalo, come back to Buffalo or come on the road to these games. And I think it's just one of those things where, yes, we love and support our team and want them to win just as much as any fan base, but we don't dismiss them when they lose, and I think that's the difference."
Jaczewski, who runs a private investigation agency in Florida and goes by the nickname "Ski," was raised a Bills fan by his father, longtime season ticket holder Ken Jaczewski. Ski was 5 years old when he attended his first Bills game with his dad, and recalls sitting in freezing cold caring more about the hot chocolate than the players on the field during a season when Buffalo went 2-14. It was there that Jaczewski learned that being a Bills fan is about more than wins and losses; it's about loyalty.
Being a Bills fan is either a generational rite or an affliction, depending on who you ask and the team's current record. You are a Buffalo fan because your parents watched the Bills, and their parents before them. You are born into Bills fandom, and you die in it.
Family the driving force behind fan's Buffalo Bills odyssey
Ken Jaczewski died on Oct. 1, 2025. He and Michael Jaczewski had always talked about one season going to every Bills game, home and away, but they never did. In the months that followed his dad's death, Jaczewski decided to make it happen in Ken's honor.
"This whole idea came together not just doing it to remember him, but to do it in more of a Buffalo way – a more philanthropic way, a more charitable way, a more generous way," Jaczewski said.
Jaczewski's first idea was to raise money for the Patricia Allen Fund, the charity started by the mother of Bills quarterback Josh Allen to benefit the Children's Hospital of Buffalo, but he eventually decided to divide the money raised between children’s hospitals in cities where the Bills play this season through the Children's Miracle Network.
The cause is personal for Jaczewski, whose son was born premature and spent 22 days in the intensive care unit. When Jaczewski himself was born in Buffalo, doctors told his mother he was unlikely to survive. On the road, when he tells strangers about the 17 for 17 Tour, they often share stories about their own experiences at a children's hospital.
"Everyone involved in taking care of these kids and families when someone's in the hospital is important and I've come to learn more about the care they give," Jaczewski said. "It's been educational for me, but very eye-opening. I love hearing people's stories and how their kids have overcome what they have, and so that to me is more important than the games."
As of Week 8 of the NFL season, Jaczewski had raised just more than $20,000 and logged more than 16,000 miles in the Bronco. He acquired the car, a blue Bronco with a white leather, blue-stitched interior, from a custom shop in Tampa whose manager turned out to be a Bills fan.
Jaczewski enlisted a different friend or family member to accompany him to each Bills road game. The Bronco is an easy conversation starter, and they also leave personalized coasters at bars and restaurants to advertise the tour in addition to promoting it on social media. Jaczewski doesn't map out his routes in advance, preferring to spontaneously detour to places of interest, sometimes with a Bills connection.
In Nebraska, he visited the Buffalo Bill Ranch once owned by his favorite football team's namesake. At the California-Nevada border, he stayed at Buffalo Bill's Resort & Casino. On the way to Los Angeles for the Bills-Rams Monday Night Football game, he stopped at the University of Wyoming, the alma mater of Bills QB Allen, whose jersey is still prominently displayed for sale in the Cowboys' team store.
Jaczewski said people everywhere have been supportive of the 17 for 17 Tour – especially Bills fans.
"The prolonged misery of that and the heartache of losing those Super Bowls back in the day, to me, that's what makes the fan base incredible," Jaczewski said. "We want our team to win and we want the Bills to get a Super Bowl, we want Josh Allen to win a Super Bowl. But no one's gonna love Josh any more or less if he does not win a Super Bowl, and that's just how people are. It's family."
Family, after all, is the reason Jaczewski is doing this in the first place.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bills fan's late dad raised him on Buffalo loyalty. He's attending every game to help sick kids
