Thurman and Patti Thomas walked into Stitch Buffalo with Forton-Barnes’ Fan of the Year jersey, Water Buffalo hat, and cake. All the women she works with to create the iconic hats stood behind her in the special moment. Not only was it one of the happiest days of her life, but she said it was also the first time Forton-Barnes has ever successfully been surprised.
“It was the perfect setting at Stitch Buffalo where I have spent so much time doing this Water Buffalo Club [716] work and helping out the [women there] and changing their lives,” Forton-Barnes said. “And they have changed my life.”
When she had the deluxe hat design ready, she knew she wanted as many as possible to be made locally in Buffalo. About three and a half years ago, Forton-Barnes was pointed to the founder and executive director of Stitch Buffalo, Dawne Hoeg. The hats brought Stitch Buffalo into the Bills community and the three women who make them never fail to put a smile on Forton-Barnes’ face.
“These women at Stitch Buffalo have gone through nothing that we can ever imagine in our lives, and specifically the three women that make the deluxe hats were pretty much torn from their countries,” Forton-Barnes said. “They have embraced the project so much that they tell me all the time that the hats have changed their lives and it has created this whole new world of [Bills] fans from different countries that have settled here.”