The Philadelphia Eagles helped nine people be home for Thanksgiving after paying their bail.
According to HuffPost, the 2018 Super Bowl champions posted $50,000 in bail Monday, releasing nine people from jail. Half of the money was raised directly by the team; the other half came from a matching contribution from the Eagles Social Justice Fund. The money was put to use by the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, an organization working to reform the cash bailout system.
Philly community coming together! Today, @playercoalition worked w @phillybailout @PhillyDefenders, & @eagles to help #EndCashBail. 9 people were bailed out & 15+ Philly nonprofits provided resources to them & their families in need. pic.twitter.com/4euA0jf7xZ
— Malcolm Jenkins (@MalcolmJenkins) November 26, 2018
So far, the Eagles Social Justice Fund has raised nearly $500,000. The NFL and the Players Coalition agreed to allow each NFL team to set up similar funds with donations of up to $250,000 from players that are matched by each team, ESPN reported.
As for the Eagles, the team has so far handed out $190,000 to nonprofit organizations in Philly like the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, Police Athletic League of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Opportunities Industrialization Center and the local United Way.
“The cash bail system punishes poverty and … punishes people of color at a grossly disproportionate rate,” Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins said according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Some people say we need the system to make our community safe — but as you can see here with these groups, we have everything we need to make our community safer, when we decide to invest in people and wrap our arms around people, as opposed to locking them up.”
Good to see an NFL team standing up and actually doing some legwork to fight injustice on the ground level.
