Saints And CADA Team Up To Fight Substance Abuse

For fifteen years, the New Orleans Saints have lent their name to CADA's pledge-based fundraising campaign. This year and after their championship season, the Saints are partnering up again with the Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse to raise money for the non-profit organization's prevention and early intervention services.

The campaign now called Playing for Prevention is based on team and player stats and has expanded this year to include sacks, touchdowns, interceptions and catches. The change has been made due to the organization's relationship with Saints DL Anthony Hargrove, who came back from a one-year suspension due to violation of the NFL's Substance Abuse Policy to become a key contributor to the Saints defensive line.

The Saints hosted CADA today, along wth students from New Orleans Charter Science and Math Academy, Warren Easton High School, and St. Charles Borremeo Elementary School, to tour the training facility and meet members of the team such as C Jonathan Goodwin and P Thomas Morstead. These students are representative of the 30 schools in which CADA's prevention educators teach almost 4,000 students. The students at the facility listened to Hargrove's poignant story of personal redemption, culminating in winning the Super Bowl. He talked to the students about how organizations such as CADA can help them and their families if they experience substance issues and also posed photographs with the children after.

To learn more about Playing for Prevention and what activities CADA is doing in your community, visit their website at www.cadagno.org or call (504) 362-4272.