Excerpts from Pittsburgh, The Greatest City in the World.
By Sean Elliot Martin, Ph.D. ( Co-author Doing Good Works ) and Heath Curran
The spirit of charity has a rich tradition in this city, from the early days of industrial development to the present. The colleges, businesses, and organizations in the area place very high value on charity and community service. In fact, Duquesne University’s students, faculty, and staff donate over 200,000 hours per year to volunteer work. This kind of commitment is not uncommon among Pittsburghers, from millionaires to blue collar workers. Andrew Carnegie, of course, donated untold millions to various causes throughout the country, as did the Mellons, Hillmans, Westinghouse, the Fricks, and many others. Today, foundations like the Heinz Endowment write $60,000,000 in grants annually. The Pittsburgh Foundation has donated $365 million dollars since 1945, making it the 14th largest community foundation in the country.
George Westinghouse also gave the gifts of time and pride by offering the first Saturday half-day in the American work force (1881), and by giving workers proper credit for their ideas by filing Westinghouse-funded patents under the name of the true inventor (as mentioned previously, most famous inventors of the time filed patents under their own name, even if it was really an employee’s idea). From huge projects like the Pittsburgh Renaissance project (the first major redevelopment project completed in the U.S. without the benefit of federal money) to small but important developments like the first Sunday Church Bulletin in the U.S. (begun by Reverend Thomas F. Coakley, D.D. at Sacred Heart Church in 1923), Pittsburgh has had a tendency to seek out new ways to make a difference. The Pittsburgh International Vintage Grand Prix, the largest vintage race in America stands as one of the more unique charity traditions in the city. This race is 100% volunteer managed and operated to benefit the Allegheny Valley School and Autism Society of Pittsburgh. This unique event will keep racing fans very happy.
Of course, the captains of industry and racecar enthusiasts are not the only ones who do their part around here. The real difference comes from tens of thousands of workers, students, home-makers, and children pitching in to do what they can. It seems as though there is always some kind of major charity event going on in The Burgh, from local events based on national charities to completely unique activities. Pittsburgh hosts various bike rides, walks, runs, sales, and gatherings to raise money for charity, as well as beautification efforts. Over 11,000 runners and walkers participate each year in The Great Race, a series of racing events in Pittsburgh. Most of the runners and walkers use their participation in The Great Race as a fundraiser for various charities. But The Great Race is not the only running / walking event for charities… not by any means. Pittsburgh hosted sixteen major walks and runs for charity in Spring 2009 alone.
Sometimes, local business owners create their own events. For example, Wendy Betten of The Hot Metal Diner in West Mifflin (a place with some of the best breakfast food on the planet) recently organized a “Pay it Forward” day in West Mifflin. Volunteers came to help plant flowers and greet passersby with the “Pay it Forward” message – asking people to do good deeds, only requesting that those who they help will do the same for others. From the simplest to the most ambitious, Pittsburgh efforts to improve the world develop from year to year.
Sports in Pittsburgh are not merely for entertainment, or even just for fitness. They are ways to keep the community together and to teach teamwork, discipline, pride, and respect to our youth. Many volunteers help out with the kids’ sports teams in Pittsburgh to keep kids off the streets, in the classrooms, and on the fields, courts, mats, and trails. BIG League Sports is “a cooperative effort between Citiparks, Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Roberto Clemente Foundation” (Citiparks). This program works with many Pittsburgh neighborhoods to offer baseball, softball, hockey, soccer, and other programs for kids. This is said to be “the nation’s largest and most comprehensive inner city youth sports program” (Citiparks), and it is a testament to the dedication and charitable nature of the Pittsburgh community.
Zombies for Hunger Relief – Pittsburgh addresses homelessness and hunger with a variety of shelters and soup kitchen programs. However, we also have a very creative way of gaining contributions to the Food Bank. The Pittsburgh Zombie Walk at the Monroeville Mall is one of the most unique charity events in the world, and it was created to bring in more food donations. As previously mentioned, Pittsburgh has made great contributions to the “horror movie” genre, especially in terms of zombie movies. Local TV celebrities from the “It’s Alive!” show and business owners took the local interest in zombie films and put it to good use in 2006 by doing the world’s first official “Zombie Walk” for charity. That year, over eight hundred Pittsburghers showed up to the Monroeville Mall (the setting for the horror classic Dawn of the Dead) to donate non-perishable food items and to set the first world record for the largest “Zombie Walk,” shambling like zombies from one end of the mall to the other (while cameras rolled), dressed as the undead. A representative from The Guinness Book of World Records joined us to make our world record official. It was quite a sight. The fact that so many hundreds would show up on a Sunday morning to do something so bizarre for charity and for fun… It was one of the moments that made me proud to call Pittsburgh home. Maybe you have to have a strange sense of humor to enjoy something like this, but there are plenty of us around who do.
Before long, the idea caught on. Now dozens of cities throughout the U.S., Europe, and Australia are running their own zombie walks to fight hunger. People wear all sorts of costumes, from the basic grey faces and ripped clothes to highly elaborate makeup created by the Entertainment Design students from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh or students from Tom Savini’s Special Make-Up Effects program. Some zombies wear clever things to communicate their ideals. For instance, some local animal lovers plan to wear shirts next year that say: “Flesh is for zombies. Go vegetarian.” This design comes from a Pittsburgh-based, charity-driven business that has a shop at www.artistichavenshop.com This business gives 20% of all of its profits to various charities around the world, including charities for animals, peace efforts, the environment, violence prevention, hunger relief, and many others.
Schools and Charity, the Giving and Receiving – Many Pittsburgh area high schools and colleges require that students participate in “service learning” programs for school credit. These programs typically include charity work that the students then analyze and represent through writing and / or visuals. High School students are often required to do hundreds of hours of community service work, in addition to their academic work, in order to receive a High School Diplomas.
The aforementioned Pittsburgh Promise can only thrive because of charity. UPMC has pledged $100,000,000 towards the promise, but they ask that the entire community become involved. UPMC has given $10,000,000 up front, and will be matching the rest based on donations from the community. For every three dollars donated by others, UPMC will donate two dollars. UPMC’s challenge appears to be working because other institutions and individuals are already stepping up. UPMC’s approach demonstrates their faith and pride in the city’s ability to move forward and provide a means for education and economic stability for years to come.
Sports and Charity – It is great to be from a city with world champion sports teams, and it might be even better to be surrounded by die-hard fans, but one aspect of Pittsburgh’s professional sports teams that must not be overlooked is their constant contributions to charity. From team events to players’ own charities, the sporting franchises of Pittsburgh are ALWAYS giving back to the community, and sometimes to the world. Sports-related charities (and there are too many to name) include the Mario Lemieux Foundation (which contributes to cancer and medical research), the Pirates’ Fields for Kids charity (which funds the development and improvement of local baseball and softball fields), and the Hines Ward Helping Hands Foundation (which helps biracial children who are not accepted in their communities).
Novelties – It was hard to discern where to put the next subject in relation to the categories of this book. The “Terrible Towel” (terrible as in “terror-inducing”) has become one of the most recognizable sport symbols in the country. The “Terrible Towel” can be seen in Heinz Field during Steeler’s home games, whirling outside of car windows, tucked in back pockets of passers by, and while all of the towels might support the Steelers in spirit, a bigger end is achieved. Myron Cope, legendary radio voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers and creator of the “Terrible Towel,” awarded the rights to the towel to the Allegheny Valley School before his passing. Allegheny Valley School is a school for children with severe disabilities like those that Cope’s son, Danny, has endured his entire life. Now, the school receives a constant influx of checks. A stadium full of cheering fans is simultaneously improving the lives of deserving children.
International Charities – Being a city of international mentality, Pittsburgh also has connections to groups like Pastors for Peace, an organization with a mission to “advance the struggles of oppressed people for justice and self-determination…” and support the “education of the realities of poor in U.S. and the third world.” Many groups here focus on the struggles of people across the globe, especially the charities affiliated with the many colleges and universities in the area. Hunger relief in Asia and North Africa, violence in Darfur, and various ecological and animal-oriented charities have been of particular interest lately in local colleges.
The Cali Orphanage for Girls in Columbia is an especially inspiring success story. Rich Spear, recently retired Director of Duquesne University’s Intramural Sports Program, has dedicated much of his life to the wellbeing of the 101 young girls who live at this orphanage. Rich created fundraising efforts like Duquesne University’s Cali Rally to develop the funds necessary to bring these orphans new living quarters, classrooms, a bakery, new bathrooms, and a septic tank, but his frequent visits (at his own expense) are one of the things that the girls look forward to the most. These visits allow him to spend time with the residents, to really get to know them, and to help them to have fun by taking them on outings. Anyone who talks to Rich about the orphanage will see him instantly light up. It is obvious that helping the less fortunate is one of the greatest pleasures of his life, and his dedication is apparently quite contagious. Many Duquesne students have put time and effort into raising money for the cause of the Cali Orphanage, and Rich has even helped Betsy Heath-Charles, Director of Athletic Bands and an Adjunct Professor of Music at Duquesne, to adopt one of the girls from the orphanage. Additionally, Rich is helping to pay for college for several Cali residents. Not everyone can muster the kind of compassion and commitment that he has shown over the years, but he certainly gives us something to shoot for.
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