Cole Capen pulled up in a red Ford two-door truck.
He had a few dozen boxes of Thanksgiving food fit to feed entire families loaded in the bed. When he walked into the For Families of Active Military warehouse near his hometown of Yorba Linda, Calif., he saw roughly five times as many boxes as he was set to bring through the doors.
“I remember thinking how amazing it was that all of these people in our community reached out to help to feed this many military families,” Capen, a walk-on Notre Dame quarterback, told Blue & Gold Illustrated. “It made me feel reaffirmed in my community.”
More than 300 families stationed at Fort Irwin and Camp Pendleton enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast thanks to Capen and company that year. For Families of Active Military is an organization that has been feeding those whose loved ones serve in branches of the United States military since 2006. That’s when Ed and Bridget Blehm founded the organization with the slogan: “Standing Up for Those Who Stand Up For Us.”
Capen has volunteered with For Families of Active Military since 2016. He was a junior in high school then. He’s a senior at Notre Dame now, and he’s still active in assisting the organization from more than 2,000 miles away as a student-athlete in South Bend. Just last year he was the youngest person ever appointed to the organization’s board of advisors.
Blehm couldn’t have seen that coming a few years ago when Capen graduated from high school and was ready to enroll at Notre Dame. She figured Capen’s time with For Families of Active Military had run its course.
She was wrong, and she couldn’t have been happier for that to be the case.
“The young man is absolutely astounding to me,” Blehm, a Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army, told BGI. “Our prerequisite is having passion for military families. It’s not about being a showboat. It’s about doing the work for them. They are the center. Not what we do. Cole embodies every bit of that.”
Capen’s mother, Heidi Capen, has long been involved in serving the Yorba Linda community as a part of National Charity League. She has worked with Blehm here and there, and that relationship led Capen to originally get involved with For Families of Active Military.
When Capen went to college, he figured he could run point from South Bend by writing a letter orchestrating the organization’s cause, collecting the proceeds he received virtually and sending them to his mother so she could gather the boxes and deliver them to the warehouse. Blehm said it was the most beautifully written letter she’s ever read.
“He wrote that he was just as committed to the cause as he was when he was in California and able to assist by hand,” Blehm said. “He’s somebody I reference quite often as an example for passion in wanting to help military families.”
Capen’s vision has worked tremendously. He rounded up a record 100-plus boxes in 2020 despite roaming the Notre Dame sideline that entire fall during the Fighting Irish’s second College Football Playoff appearance in three years.
Capen put together another 71 boxes during this holiday season all while having a heightened role for the Irish. He’s the team’s head offensive signaler. Every time graduate student quarterback Jack Coan looks to the sideline for a play call, Capen is staring back at him with a headset while making hand motions and body movements that tell Coan what to do.
“He’s an amazing guy and an amazing teammate,” Coan said. “He’s one of those glue guys on the team that talks to everyone and is friends with everyone.
“He’s kind of the vet of the quarterback room. He’s seen the highs and lows. He knows this offense extremely well, and whenever I come off the field, I go to him first. He tells me what he’s seeing. He’s been huge for me to have a guy I can talk to.”
It’s the accountability that sets Capen apart. He grew up a huge Notre Dame fan, and that’s why he chose to walk on as a member of the Irish. Had he not done that, though, he’d be following in his grandfather’s footsteps at West Point studying at the United States Military Academy. Capen’s grandpa earned two Purple Hearts for his service during World War II.
And even though he’d be in the process of becoming an active military member himself, Capen would probably still be Blehm’s right-hand man with For Families of Active military. His appreciation for that cause is one thing that’ll never change no matter where he is.
“Our troops and their families obviously give the ultimate sacrifice, but they risk and give up so much during the holidays,” Capen said. “Everyone else gets to spend time with family because of them, so the least we could do is provide them with a meal on Thanksgiving. It just takes away one thing they have to worry about. That’s why I keep doing it.”
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