As an homage to Rogers, May 22, the 143rd day
of the year, is 143 Day in Pennsylvania. Join the statewide movement to inspire kindness and neighborly deeds.

Mister Rogers is a PBS icon, as one of the television stars who helped launch and preserve the PBS brand in households throughout the country. The late children’s television pioneer often spoke of “143” as representative of the brand of goodness he wanted to bring to the world. There’s one letter in “I,” four in “love,” and three in “you" – hence, 143.

Rogers, who died in 2003, created and starred in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, the children’s series that ran on PBS from 1968 to 2001. Born in the small town of Latrobe, the cardigan-wearing ordained minister wasn’t shy about his Pittsburgh-area roots and the fact that his actual neighborhood outside the confines of television was in Pennsylvania.

In times of uncertainty, simple acts of kindness mean the most. Help us reflect on how grateful we are to have each other and promote your kind acts now by sharing on social media with #143PA! Let’s all do our part and help Pennsylvanians feel the love. Happy #143DayinPA!

“Imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like,” Rogers once said, “if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person.”