I had the honor and incredible opportunity on Sunday evening to attend “Schwarber’s Block Party” which was an event held at Yards Brewing Company in Philadelphia.
This event was hosted to raise awareness and funds for Kyle Schwarber’s Neighborhood Heroes, a charity foundation that seeks to benefit first responders.
Members of the Philadelphia Police and Fire Departments were in attendance, as well as military veterans.
The organizations that money was raised for included the Philadelphia Police Foundation, the Philadelphia Fire Department Foundation, Families Behind the Badge Children’s Foundation, TAPS (a nonprofit organization to provide resources to those grieving the death of a military or veteran loved one), and Team Foster (an organization that fights for the needs for disabled veterans, which uses highly trained service dogs).
A chance to give back
Kyle Schwarber has a lot of love and respect for those who put their lives on the line each and every day for us all. His father is a first responder, and this is in part where he drew the inspiration for this charity and event.
This was the first time Kyle was able to host an event for Schwarber’s Neighborhood heroes since 2019. Between moving from city to city, as well as the Pandemic, it created a bit of a challenge to host. But now in his second season with the Phillies, the Schwarber family was able to get the event kicked off again, but this time, in Philadelphia.
Kyle Schwarber opens up on making an impact
Recently, Kyle was nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award, an award that highlights philanthropy, community involvement, and goes to a player who shows excellent character.
Kyle Schwarber was honored to be nominated for the award and I got a chance to talk to him about his nomination.
I asked Kyle what it meant to him that his off-the-field contributions were being discussed and highlighted how his efforts in the community was taking some attention away from the playoff push.
The Phillies’ slugger spoke about how much it means to him and his family to be able to have an occasion like the one at Yards Brewing Company.
Kyle Schwarber made the comparison that while the baseball season is heating up, so is their off-the-field contributions. Even with the stresses of a baseball season and the playoffs on the horizon, it was cool to see how dialed in Kyle was regarding making an impact.
A Baseball Family
One cool thing that I took away from the night was just how well-liked and respect Kyle Schwarber is in the baseball community.
Aside from his teammates joining in on the festivities and coming out to support the Schwarber family, other teams also made an impact on the event.
There was a silent auction held to generate funds for the charities involved. Plenty of awesome sports memorabilia was eligible to be bid on and I noticed that there were donations from the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox.
Both organizations were previous stops in Kyle’s career, but the fact that they still wanted to assist in support the charity, was cool to see.
For more information on Schwarber’s Neighborhood Heroes, please visit https://schwarbersneighborhoodheroes.org/
If you would like to listen to the audio clip between myself and Kyle, or check out some of the awesome items that were available for bid, or even just want to hear more about the event, check out my X/Twitter page @MattWatsonPSN.
AP Photo/Matt Slocum
