Coach Dennis Allen received a $100,000 fine among the $550,000 in fines the NFL issued the Saints after accusing defensive end Cam Jordan of faking a foot injury during a game All parties appealed and won, and the fines were rescinded.
Jordan proved he had a foot injury.
Allen and his wife, Alisson, have since decided to donate the $100,000 to Second Harvest Food Bank.
“It all started when we got the fine letters from the league,” Allen said, via John DeShazier of the team website. “We said, ‘We shouldn’t be fined for this; we didn’t do anything wrong.’ And then, it got Alisson and I thinking, ‘Well, we win this appeal. Let’s take that money that we would have given the league, and let’s do something good with that money.’
“And so, Second Harvest Food Bank is an organization that Alisson has taken an interest in. I think there’s like one in five households in Louisiana that deal with lack of funds for foods and vital things in terms of living. And so, we wanted to do something to help out in the community and felt like that was a good place to start.”
Second Harvest Food Bank leads the fight against hunger in South Louisiana by providing food access, advocacy, education and disaster response. It provides food and support to more than 700 community partners and programs across 23 parishes, distributing the equivalent of 32 million meals to 210,000 people a year.
“We’re blessed to be able to have a certain level of lifestyle and a certain level of comfort being employed in the NFL,” Allen said. “And there’s nothing that makes you feel better about yourself than trying to do something to help out your community.
“We have such a tight-knit group between our team and this city, and any time you feel like you can help out those in need in your community, you want to be able to do that.”
