Deuce McAllister's Saints legend may have been built in New Orleans, but it all started in Mississippi. That's where he led the charge to give back this week.
That's why McAllister, now WWL Radio's Saints color analyst, teamed up with the Saints and Rouses Markets to load up a pair of trucks with 76,000 bottles of water to hand out to residents in the Jackson, Mississippi area, where an ongoing water crisis has left nearly 150,000 people without safe drinking water.
The original plan was for a donation of 38,000 bottles in a joint effort from McAllister and Rouses markets, with the Saints matching that effort with another 38,000 bottles donated.
The water distribution began earlier this week, with Deuce personally loading cars with cases of water at drive-up locations. There will also be distributions through area churches and the local Boys & Girls club.
There is also a planned donation of Gatorade to area high schools for later in the week.
The donations were in response to the ongoing health crisis in the city, stemming from flooding in August that impact the area's water treatment plant. Jackson is the largest city in the state. President Joe Biden has declared the crisis a federal disaster to trigger aid for the area.
The full cost of repairing the water system was estimated to be about $2 billion.
