On Mr. Rogers' birthday Friday, wear a sweater and be neighborly

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Last year on March 20, Katie Couric wore a sweater on "The CBS Evening News." Joe Scarborough wore one, too, on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," as did the folks on "Good Morning America" and "Fox and Friends." Also wearing sweaters that day were Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, news personalities on Pittsburgh TV stations and lots of others.
They were answering the call to honor the late Fred Rogers on what would have been his 80th birthday, as a way of encouraging neighborly acts of kindness. Some called it National Sweater Day, though that wasn't really the point.
The celebrities' sweaters came courtesy of Family Communications Inc., the Pittsburgh-based company Rogers founded to produce "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" for public television. This Friday, Family Communications is hoping to turn his birthday into an annual tradition of community service, to be known as "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" Day. They'd also like you to wear a sweater.
"The sweater is the fun part," said Margy Whitmer of Family Communications. "It reminds you of Fred. We hope people will take the next step and do good works in the community."
A number of Pittsburgh organizations are already on board for free events Friday.
The Pittsburgh Zoo and the PPG Aquarium, The National Aviary, the Mattress Factory, the Westmoreland Museum of American Art and Photo Antiquities will offer free admission.
Institutions and companies are holding sweater drives.
In addition, the movie "My Tale of Two Cities" will have several benefit screenings this week across the country. The film, by Carl Kurlander, is a comeback story about Pittsburgh, Fred Rogers' real-life neighborhood, featuring Franco Harris and other celebrities.
For more information, visit www.fci.org/neighbor.

(Sally Kalson can be reached at skalson(at)post-gazette.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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