A 98-year-old Buffalo Bills fan from Spencerport just checked off her bucket list: a trip to the team's new stadium, complete with on-field passes and a jersey signed by Josh Allen. Known simply as Grandma Lorraine, she has spent recent seasons watching games alone from home in her Bills gear, even after two hip replacements in the past few years. But a viral TikTok video and a neighbor's fundraiser changed all that.
Lorraine has long said that reaching the Buffalo Bills' new stadium was at the top of her list. “All I want to do on my bucket list was to sit down and go to the new Buffalo Bills stadium,” she said, according to WIVB News 4. The wish carried extra weight given her mobility struggles, and it caught the attention of the one person who sees her nearly every day.
A Neighbor Steps In
Michelle DeHond is Lorraine's next-door neighbor in Spencerport, and the two have built a close bond. DeHond checks in on Lorraine every morning and night, waters her plants, and has described her as amazing, funny, humble, lovable and special. Lorraine lives by herself and enjoys tending to those same plants when she's not in front of the television cheering on the Bills.
DeHond began creating and sharing TikTok videos about Lorraine's devotion to the team, and one of those clips took off, racking up more than four million views. The attention brought cards and gifts pouring in for Lorraine from people around the world, and it didn't stop there — DeHond also started a GoFundMe to try to get her to an actual game.
Fundraiser Covers Tickets and More
The GoFundMe campaign, titled Grandma Lorraine's Bills Birthday Surprise, laid out exactly what the money would be used for. According to the fundraiser page, funds raised would go toward game tickets and, depending on how much was collected, could also help cover food, drinks, parking, and possibly transportation. It noted that the last time Lorraine went to a Bills game was back when she was in her 70s. The campaign ultimately raised around $2,500.
Then came the surprise nobody saw coming. Verizon told the station it learned about Lorraine's story through the TikTok videos circulating online, and decided to step in with something bigger than a fundraiser could provide on its own.
Verizon Delivers a VIP Game Day
Per the station's report, a Verizon representative said the company surprised Lorraine with on-field passes, tickets to a game and a jersey signed by quarterback Josh Allen. “We surprised her with the on-field passes, tickets to the game and that signed Josh Allen jersey,” the Verizon executive said. With the company's help, Lorraine is set for a VIP experience at the new Highmark Stadium.
The new venue is also a major public-private project, not simply a team-owned upgrade: the Bills, New York State and Erie County partnered on its construction, whose final cost the team put at just over $2.1 billion. The stadium’s public ownership changed after construction, too. In August 2026, Erie County announced the property had been transferred to New York State, completing a handoff that places the stadium within a broader state-county-team arrangement.
The stadium Lorraine is set to visit opened on June 23, 2026. The Bills describe the venue as a 60,108-seat, open-air stadium with a natural-grass field, covered seating and 360-degree concourses—features that make a trip to the new home a different experience from watching the team on television or returning to its former stadium. The team’s opening announcement marked the start of a new era for Bills game days.
Verizon's Paul Hitchcock said the company knew it had to do something special once it saw Lorraine's story spreading online. For DeHond, the gesture doesn't end the fundraising effort — she said she still plans to talk about using the GoFundMe money to get Lorraine to another game down the road, giving her neighbor more than just a single afternoon of Bills Mafia magic.
