Kevin Kolb is blessed, so he’s blessing others in kind

Cardinals quarterback Kevin Kolb is blessed to be in the position that he’s in in his life, so he recently decided to form his own foundation – Kevin Kolb’s Pass It 4Ward Foundation – to help children and families in need in the state of Arizona.

On Monday, Kolb and the Foundation held their first big fundraising event at Donovan’s Steak and Chop House in Phoenix, and it was very well attended, by Cardinals players and guests alike.

There were both live and silent auctions, and all the Cardinals players who attended – including quarterbacks John Skelton and Ryan Lindley, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, fullback Anthony Sherman, kicker Jay Feely and guard Daryn Colledge – were the celebrity servers for the evening.

The event was cleverly titled “Celebs & Steaks.”

Kolb says his passion for helping others began at age 14, when he met his girlfriend Whitney, whom he later married.

Kolb said Whitney’s uncle had a football accident which paralyzed him from the chest down.

“I just watched the way it affected his family,” Kolb said.

He said Whitney’s family had to change their house to make it wheelchair accessible, and they had to make hard sacrifices in order for Whitney’s uncle to attend school after the accident.

“From that point forward, I said if I ever get a chance, what I want to do is, yes the patient deserves a lot of time and effort, but also the family deserves as much help as possible as well,” Kolb said.

Kolb says he’s blessed to not have had anything traumatic like that happen within his family, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to sit back and not care about others who are going through troubling times right around him.

“I feel like whenever things have gone the way they have for me, its my duty,” Kolb said. “Yes it’s a passion of mine, but it’s also my duty to do the things we’re doing.”

Kicker Jay Feely shared with me that his brother Michael was physically and mentally disabled pretty much his whole life before passing away in 2001 at age 26.

“There’s a unique place in your life for somebody like that,” Feely said. “They have an impact on families and people in ways that other people can’t.”

Feely said based on the experience he and his family went through with Michael, it was also his duty to come out and help Kolb and his foundation in any way possible.

“I think to whom much is given, much is expected,” Feely said. “When we have the opportunity to give back, we should embrace that, especially at this time around Thanksgiving.”