McKeesport trio hands out 100 Easter baskets to neighbors, strangers

By JEFF STITT
jstitt@yourmvi.com

Amber Kimmell of McKeesport admits she sometimes acts on a whim.
But in her defense, her impulsive decisions are usually to the benefit of others.
“I’ll just all of a sudden kind of decide to do something and my husband sort of gets dragged into it, and that’s what happened with the Easter baskets,” Amber said with a laugh.
On Saturday, she and her husband LaVone McBride, with assistance from their friend Melissa Kilroy, handed out 100 Easter baskets to neighbors and strangers in front of Amber and LaVone’s home on the highly-traveled Versailles Avenue.
Amber said the act of goodwill brought smiles to the faces of children and adults alike who were speechless when they pulled up to a table the trio had set up along the street’s side.
And those smiles are the exact reward Amber and LaVone are searching for when they set out to usher positivity into the lives of the people of the Tube City.
“It’s just a good feeling,” Amber said of the glow she felt giving away Easter baskets this past weekend. “I like spreading positivity.”
Handing out Easter baskets isn’t the first time Amber has done good in her city. She’s originally from Glassport and moved to McKeesport in 1993.
She found a home there.
A grandmother of two whom she refers to as “my grand babies,” Amber raised her children, who are now adults, to make their community a better place, having them conduct clean-up projects in their neighborhood, and rewarding all the kids who helped with s’mores afterward. She hopes that a passion for spreading love and positivity is something that will rub off on her grand babies as they watch her run “Embracing McKeesport with Love” initiatives.
Around October 2019, Amber created the “Embracing McKeesport with Love” Facebook group.
“I created the group pretty much to lend a hand,” she said, later adding that she additionally created the page to uplift those in the city.
Amber said she was inspired after seeing people posting to Facebook because they didn’t know how to gain access to assistance they needed for various things.
The group gives those living within the McKeesport Area School District a place to go if they need information about area resources or help finding items they need, such as toys, clothing, food, tools and more.
“Any positive information, if you can give something away free to help somebody out. That’s the main thing,” Amber said, later adding that the page is somewhere city residents can offer their support, advice, items or resources “just to help someone with what they’re going through.”

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Submitted
LaVone McBride, Amber Kimmell and Melissa Kilroy handed out 100 Easter baskets to McKeesport children and their parents on Saturday in an attempt to spread love in McKeesport through the “Embracing McKeesport with Love” Facebook group. When the trio ran out of baskets to give away, they gave away an extra 40 beach balls and bags of candy.