Jonathan & Hannah Allen
Credit : Courtesy of Jonathan Allen times of my life ” as the pair were put into the foster care system . Fortunately , their father , Sgt . 1st Class Richard Allen Jr ., remained the boys ’ rock and managed to reunite the family when he returned to the U . S . after being deployed in South Korea . “ My father did absolutely everything in his power to get custody of us , making the time in his busy work schedule as part of the military to always be present in court ,” Allen said in an NFL . com tribute to his dad . “ After more than a year of the custody battle , he won . That entire process showed me I was worth fighting for . That ’ s an extremely hard thing to understand and realize as a kid , but my father ’ s determination to always be present , along with the fact that he never gave up on us , showed me as much .”
Allen told # FlyWashington his childhood trauma helped mold him into the man he is today . “ I think it impacted me in multiple ways . I had my brother there , which made it a lot easier and [ we were ] eventually reunited with my dad , because that was the end goal ,” he explained . “ I think on a subconscious level it really changed the way I felt about a lot of things … it ’ s very hard to get me upset , very hard to get me truly rattled and I think that comes from having to defend myself at such a young age .”
Those personal experiences motivated Jonathan and Hannah to begin working with Sasha Bruce Youthwork in Washington , D . C ., a non-profit homeless shelter that is one of the largest providers of services to youth in the city . “ When we first got here [ to D . C .], we really wanted to do something that impacted the community more than just giving money ,” Allen said , when asked about what motivated him to collaborate with Sasha Bruce . “ I wanted to do something a little more rewarding . I knew I always wanted to work with kids , but it was really the team that I ’ ve put together with my agent , my marketing guys and my wife , they sat down and came up with the whole idea of working with Sasha Bruce , the Innovation Lounge and all the things that we ’ ve done with them — so I ’ ve got to give credit to them ,” he added humbly .
One of the reasons that Sasha Bruce is so important in a city like D . C . is that “ it ’ s not
FLYWASHINGTON . COM 8 SUMMER 2023