What a great year to launch a special tribute to Fred Rogers -- during the 250th anniversary of Pittsburgh, our real neighborhood! What a great time --during the week of March 20th, which would have been Fred’s 80th birthday! And what a great way -- by promoting neighborliness through “Won’t you be my neighbor?” days, March 15-20!

We were thrilled to be one of only a dozen applicants to receive a $50,000 grant through Community Connections Initiative of Pittsburgh 250! to work on creative ways to honor Fred’s legacy through organizations and agencies that serve children and families in this region. We’re planning to launch a full-scale public awareness campaign to help children and families become aware of the core values of neighborliness at the foundation of Fred Rogers’ lifework.

Western Pennsylvania has a rich history of service to children and families, and we're proud to be partnering with so many of those organizations including the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, the National Aviary, the Carnegie Science Center, the Heinz History Museum, the Andy Warhol Museum, the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium, and the Pittsburgh Symphony to name a few. County and regional libraries and other cultural institutions have also joined us in this partnership.

With the help of these organizations, we’re preparing lots of ways to remind people about connections and relationships which were so important to Fred.

• Cultural and educational institutions in the region will offer free or reduced admission, made possible through the help of Tickets for Kids Charities.
  
• Beginning with Books and Reading Is Fundamental will donate children’s books.
  
• Libraries and other institutions will offer hands-on activities, like building a model neighborhood from recyclables and puppet-making.
  
• Some places will host a Mister Rogers' Sweater Drive.
  
• Helpful Hints about ways that adults and children can be caring neighbors.

We’re also taking this celebration of Fred’s legacy around the globe! Watch for a Mr. McFeely "Youtube" message inviting everyone in the world to join in our celebration on March 20th by wearing a sweater on that day. It doesn’t have to be like the ones that Mister Rogers wore –- it just has to be special to you. It’s a great reminder of all that Fred stood for.

Join in by wearing a sweater -– and create other ways to celebrate in your neighborhood… ways to be neighborly…and to encourage others to be neighborly, too. As Fred Rogers said, “One kind empathetic word has a wonderful way of turning into many.”

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