Proud to Be From Pittsburgh

Proud to be from Pittsburgh: Sam's Bucket Brigade

For some people, it takes years to figure out how they can make a difference in their community. For Sam Kincaid, it took one trip downtown.

Sam was in downtown Pittsburgh in 2017 with her grandparents. She was on a trip to see a show in the theater, but noticed all the homeless people nearby.

"It just hit me in my heart to see them out sitting in the cold," Sam said.

For this 3rd grader, that was enough to spur her into action. She started by giving the people she saw a few dollars, but she wasn't satisfied with that.

"Then i thought it would be, we could make it bigger and give them more than just a couple bucks," she told Channel 11.

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An idea was born. Sam's Bucket Brigade. The McKnight Elementary School student started collecting donations online and at her school, to fill up buckets with food and clothes she could hand out in homeless shelters. Her classmates got involved, too. We were there as they created an assembly line, filling up buckets with hundreds of donations.

"It makes me really happy to hear them say like all those nice things that were basically helping out people that don't have much," Sam told us.

Her teacher, Janet Lewandowski, agrees. She told Channel 11 she was proud of her class, and of Sam. She says they learned about citizenship this year and what it means to be a good neighbor. She wasn't surprised to see them put it into action.

"Kids they don't really have any reservations they just go for it, you know," Lewandowski said. "They're not tentative like a lot of adults tend to be."

Sam told us this isn't the end. She is already looking at the possibility of starting a club, where she and fellow classmates can collect and pack up buckets to continue this drive.
You can head to this link to donated to Sam's Bucket Brigade and find out more about her mission: https://www.gofundme.com/a4ybt-help-for-homless