Proud to be from Pittsburgh: Give a Kid a Backpack

A few miles can mean a lot of disparity between communities around Pittsburgh. One man saw the need for students in a nearby community and decided to start a mission making us Proud to be from Pittsburgh.

Chad O'Brien got a note from his sister years ago. It said she had donated some backpacks to children in need in Arizona. He though that was pretty neat, but a sibling rivalry had him already thinking bigger.

"So I said, 'I can do better,'" the Sewickley native told us.

O'Brien said he knew Sewickley was a community blessed with opportunity. Just down the road in Ambridge, he felt his charity could have a bigger impact. He knocked on the door of Highland Elementary, and his life changed.

"I said do you need some backpacks? And she said we need more than backpacks, come on in," O'Brien recalled.

That's how he started the Give a Kid a Backpack initiative. He works with teachers and the principal in the school to see where the need is the greatest, and relies on donations from friends and nearby community groups to meet those needs. The new principal of Highland Elementary says those donations make a huge difference.

"Our students always appreciate the school supplies," Laura Burns said.  "It's like Christmas morning for some of our children."

O'Brien says the children help him too.

"When a couple kids you don't even know call you Uncle Chad, you know, that's when I knew I was making a difference."

School board member Cathy Fischer knows that difference personally. Her son is part of the school and has already gone through three open heart surgeries. O'Brien helps bring a smile to his face.

"I consider him a personal friend," she said. "He has been one of the biggest assets to this school."

O'Brien said once he started helping, he knew he wouldn't be walking away anytime soon. He has big dreams for food pantries and green spaces for the children.

"These children need a little bit more than learning what one and one is," O'Brien told Channel 11. "There's all sorts of different needs here so we're going to try to satisfy as many as I can."

O'Brien used some of the donations to take the children to Heinz Field so they could see where the Steelers play.

You can help O'Brien with his mission to help the children in the Ambridge School District. Head. Find more information HERE.

Cox Media Group