Pumpkins, flowers spread Fred Rogers' message of kindness

Pedestrians in communities from Greensburg to Pittsburgh’s North Side may have discovered pumpkins with notes attached in random public spaces.

With an invitation to “harvest kindness,” the gourds are the latest manifestation of the influence late Latrobe native and children’s television host Fred Rogers has had on multiple generations of viewers.

Two of those former viewers, college students Colton DeBiase of Murrysville and Tiffany Schmoyer of North Huntingdon, have joined forces in a pop-up Kindness Day initiative. Together with DeBiase’s mother, Melissa, on Sunday they scattered 30 some pumpkins in spots across Westmoreland and Allegheny counties. They’re hoping passersby will find them and gain encouragement from attached quotes culled from the sayings of Rogers and others who have been advocates of kindness.

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted,” the note states on one of several pumpkins the trio placed amid the “Art in the Alley” array of creative works that line an alley near Greensburg’s Palace Theatre.

The pumpkins and the affixed messages are meant “for anyone to pick up and just feel good,” said Schmoyer, a senior psychology major at Seton Hill University, who also is active as a fashion and lifestyle blogger and social media consultant.

They’re meant as “little acts of kindness for people to find all over, just anything that would brighten someone’s day,” she said.

The trio are hoping that those who discover the pumpkins will post photos and comments at the project’s Instagram account to indicate how they may have decorated the autumn staples or put them to other constructive uses.

For an initial Kindness Day, on July 15, they left flowers at sites in Greensburg, Murrysville and Pittsburgh, including at the statue of Rogers on North Shore Drive.

“We just waited to see if anyone tagged us, to see where they ended up — if someone moved it or gave it to someone else, or if it impacted someone’s day,” Schmoyer said.

The handful of responses they received inspired them to continue with the project. They were particularly touched by a post from a Pittsburgh artist who came upon the flower and note at the statue, describing it as one of “the lovely little things in life you may have missed before.”

Schmoyer met the DeBiases through a mutual friend and helped them develop the kindness pop-up project as a outgrowth of another Rogers-related initiative Colton DeBiase founded this past summer.

DeBiase, who is a freshman studying broadcast journalism at Point Park University, initiated a social media campaign, “Live Like Fred,” and, with advice from a former WQED staffer, has begun producing and posting “inspiring neighbor” online video segments.

The featured interviewees are residents in the region who are helping others and “living out the philosophy of kindness and love, just like Mister Rogers did,” DeBiase said, referring to the moniker Roger used on his long-running PBS children’s show, produced and aired locally on WQED.

“Hearing all the inspiring work they do in their communities, it just blows my mind,” DeBiase said.

With a suggestion from his mother, DeBiase conducted an initial interview in July with Gabrielle Nastuck, who operates Miss Gabi’s Art is Good Studio, an inclusive, noncompetitive center for art education in Latrobe.

DeBiase was impressed by what Nastuck, who uses a wheelchair to get around, has accomplished. “She was a perfect (interview) candidate, being from Latrobe and loving Mister Rogers,” he said.

DeBiase has interviewed four other exemplary “neighbors,” including Thomas Wallace, director of the Homewood-Brushton YMCA, and Tony Mitchell, the former high school coach who mentored him. He hopes to continue posting new interviews on a monthly basis.

“I’ve always admired Mister Rogers,” DeBiase said. “I always watched him from a young age.” He participated in open auditions and is hoping to land a part as an extra in the Rogers biopic starring Tom Hanks that is being filmed in the region.

“We need Mister Rogers now more than ever,” DeBiase said. “His legacy of kindness and love, we wanted to make sure it can live on to the next generation of neighbors.”

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff at 724-836-6622, jhimler@tribweb.com
or via Twitter @jhimler_news.