Newhouse Alumna Serves Hometown Community Through Work With the Buffalo Bills Foundation

Growing up on a cattle farm in Alden, New York, a rural community 30 minutes east of Buffalo, gave Morgan Foss G’20 an understanding of agriculture, food production and life on a farm.

The master’s degree in public relations Foss graduated with from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications gave her a strong foundation of communication, writing, relationship-building and strategic thinking.

Today, she puts it all together as program manager for the Buffalo Bills Foundation, the nonprofit arm of her hometown football franchise. The foundation supports a wide breadth of initiatives dedicated to improving the quality of life in the Western New York region, but its primary focus is addressing child hunger, food access and supporting healthy eating.

“Buffalo is the sixth most segregated metropolitan region in the country and 1 in 5 children—1 in 8 people overall—are food insecure,” Foss says, illuminating the importance of her work with the foundation. “There are many food deserts within the city and in surrounding communities, despite there being many agricultural areas, like where I grew up.”

The Bills Foundation supports several nonprofit organizations and programs that uplift the food system and provide healthy foods to underserved families. Foss is one of three employees who liaise with the foundation’s board of directors to respond to funding requests and direct resources to the many hunger-fighting organizations doing the work.

“The Bills organization has such a large platform and influence in the Western New York region. So in this position, I can connect the community’s needs with resources and bring awareness to specific causes.”

A Pandemic-Inspired Pivot

While Foss was always drawn to nonprofit and community-based work, she went to Newhouse intent on entering entertainment public relations after completing an undergraduate degree from the University of Alabama.

In the spring of 2020, she was planning to visit Los Angeles for the entertainment immersion experience and was pursuing an internship in Nashville with Sony Music Entertainment, and then … we all know what happened next.

“All of a sudden I was finishing up my master’s degree, teaching undergraduate courses online and doing a virtual internship all from my childhood bedroom while simultaneously working on my family farm,” Foss says.

Not only were her personal plans put on hold, but the entire PR and entertainment industry was a question mark as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. With so much uncertainty, Foss began looking for opportunities closer to home, ultimately leading to her dream career with the Bills.

“It was a crazy time and while many businesses closed, my family farm and the agriculture industry trudged forward to ensure food was produced and stocked on shelves,” says Foss. “The pandemic certainly changed the trajectory of my career, but I’m grateful for it.” She emphasizes that her experience in 2020 built life skills that have wildly benefited her career—including adaptability, organization, being innovative with her time and space and the ability to build relationships through a screen.

Giving Back and Living the Dream

Foss was named community relations coordinator with the Bills in 2022. Now in her third season with the organization, she has been promoted to Bills Foundation program manager, overseeing the distribution of foundation grants to nonprofits across the community.

Foss has also worked on initiatives promoting cancer awareness, military appreciation and social justice (in partnership with the National Football League’s Crucial Catch, Salute to Service and Inspire Change initiatives), as well as CPR education and AED awareness, youth sports and physical fitness and numerous other causes championed by players.

The Bills recently wrapped up their annual Huddle of Hunger Initiative, which collected over 31,000 pounds of food and raised more than $150,000 to support 20 local charities, including FeedMore WNY and its 400 hunger-relief agencies serving the four counties surrounding Highmark Stadium. “For this year’s food drive, we had 16 rookie players and six veteran players participate and a massive turnout,” Foss says. “The Buffalo Bills players are amazing and very dedicated to the community where they play.”

Besides the technical and interpersonal skills she developed at Newhouse, Foss says one of the best takeaways has been the group of friends and fellow alumni she connected with during the master’s program.

“I have a group chat with my best friends from the program,” Foss says. “Going through this experience together of graduating during the pandemic was unique, and we know we can count on each other to discuss our careers—areas we might want to grow in and navigating challenges or transitions. I love having peers who are on the same wavelength and seeing my friends growing and doing amazing work in their industries and their fields.”

Earlier this year, Foss had her first baby, a son named Valentino—Tino for short—and returned to her role part-time for the 2024 season. She is thrilled to be back in the business of connecting the foundation’s resources and the Bills players with the people and organizations in her community doing incredible work.

“Just so far this season [in addition to Huddle for Hunger], we’ve brought players to Dave and Buster’s to hang out with families affected by cancer, we’ve made sandwiches and handed out food with players at St. Luke’s Missionary Church, we’re getting ready for Veterans and Native Heritage Month celebrations in November. We do a lot with different youth organizations and that’s probably my favorite part of the job—just seeing kids light up after meeting their idol,” Foss says.

To learn more about the work of Foss and the Buffalo Bills Foundation, visit their website.