WJCT Invites First Coast to Participate in Annual Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Sweater Drive
November 1, 2011
November 1-30
(Jacksonville, FL, November 1, 2011); WJCT invites the First Coast community to lend a helping hand to neighbors by contributing new and nearly new sweaters, jackets and blankets to the ninth annual Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Sweater Drive, which runs November 1-30. Contributions will be donated to St. Vincent’s Mobile Outreach Ministry (which serves migrant workers), Clara White Mission, and other First Coast nonprofits serving the needy.
Community members can drop contributions at WJCT, located at 100 Festival Park Avenue across from EverBank Field; at Two Men and a Truck, located at 8849 Arlington Expressway; and all Community Hospice and VyStar Credit Union locations. This year, First Coast schools are again invited to collect contributions. The three schools that collect the most contributions will receive a special prize. For more information, including drop-off points and school participation forms, visit wjct.org or call (904) 358-6314.
The sweater drive honors the life and work of the late Fred Rogers, whose long-running PBS Kids program Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood continues to air on WJCT-TV Channel 7.4 Saturdays at 6 a.m. “All of us, at some time or other, need help,” Fred Rogers once said, “and whether we’re giving or receiving a sweater, each one of us has something valuable to bring to this world. That’s one of the things that connect us as neighbors—in our way, everyone is a giver and receiver.”
“The cardigan sweater has come to represent the gentle spirit, warmth, and nurturing of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” says Michael Boylan, WJCT President and CEO. “The Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Sweater Drive is a fitting tribute to the beloved PBS personality, one that promotes his messages of caring and consideration for others. The values that children learn from Fred Rogers and his program are timeless.”
The ninth annual Mister Rogers Sweater Drive is supported by VyStar Credit Union, Two Men and a Truck, and the Jacksonville Fraternal Order of Police.
WJCT is the community-supported public broadcasting station for the First Coast. For more information about WJCT’s television and radio programming, visit WJCT Online at wjct.org