Dion Dawkins hosts fifth annual charity kickball game for Buffalo community

Dion Dawkins turned his fifth annual charity kickball game into another offseason stop in Buffalo, extending a format that has gone from novelty to routine. The Buffalo Bills left tackle has built the event into a recurring part of his community work, using a casual field game to draw families, raise money and keep local attention on the causes he keeps backing year after year.

That consistency matters. Dawkins was the Bills’ club winner for the 2025 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, marking his fourth consecutive year as the team’s nominee or club winner in that race. The recognition fits the way he has used his platform since entering the league as a second-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft out of Temple University. His charitable identity is no side note anymore; it has become part of the package.

The kickball game also fits the mission behind Dion’s Dreamers, the foundation Dawkins created to support young people in underserved communities and people dealing with mental, financial or physical hardship. The organization has repeatedly tied Dawkins to events that are accessible, family-friendly and built for broad turnout rather than a narrow donor class. That approach has made kickball a practical tool, not just a photo opportunity.

Dawkins has used the same format before. In 2022, he held a second annual kickball tournament fundraiser at Lincoln Park in the Town of Tonawanda, and the event benefited the Buffalo 5/14 Survivors Fund for victims of the Tops Market shooting. Dion’s Dreamers sponsored that event, and Dawkins said he wanted to keep the community in good spirits while helping money keep flowing to survivors. That earlier fundraiser showed the model clearly: one player, one local park, one easy-to-enter event, and a direct line to a Buffalo cause.

His off-field reach has only grown since then. In December 2025, the Bills said Dion’s Dreamers donated $25,000 toward the fifth annual Give 716 Day and third health and human service fair at MLK Jr. Park, along with 100 totes of clothing, 2,000 free hot meals, 100 cases of water, 270 cases of fruits and vegetables, and free bicycles and helmets for kids. The team also said Dawkins received Buffalo’s Key to the City in November 2025.

By the time Dawkins got to his fifth charity kickball game, the point was no longer whether he could pull one off. He already had. The story is that he keeps doing it, and Buffalo keeps showing up.