It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Federal funding has been restored in the final Budget Resolution.

This is a major victory for our cause. Our success would not have been possible without your active participation. Thousands of congressional office phones rang and email inboxes were filled with support for public radio and TV. In our last push, on May 1, hundreds of fans put on their Mister Rogers style sweaters to honor the anniversary of his congressional testimony that restored and increased public media funding.

Next, Congress will begin to write their spending bills based on the final Budget Resolution. We’ll let you know if we need you to take action for the stations and programs you love.

Now, as a special treat, enjoy some of our favorite submissions for our Mister Rogers’ #ItsABeautifulDay photo contest. This is just a small sample of the hundreds of thoughtful expressions of support for Mister Rogers and the stations that introduced you to him and many other important public media programs. Please visit our Facebook album, Twitter feed or check out the new testimonials on our website.

This cutie’s mom can’t imagine a world without public media. It’s important to her family because it provides them with programming that’s educational and informative.

 

 

Meeting Mister Rogers as a toddler inspired Alice’s almost 30 year career in public media. She strongly believes that public media is a critical service to provide a local voice in communities. She’s hung this picture in her office for decades, and continues to be inspired by the people who give public media a voice.

 

 

WLIW21 and WNET viewers, Robbie and her son, put on their sweaters in honor of Mister Rogers and her mom, an early childhood educator and Mister Rogers’ super fan, who recently passed away. Robbie shared a Mister Rogers’ quote that reminded her of what was important to her mom, how Mister Rogers made her feel and how critical access to public media is for everyone.

“As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has – or ever will have – something inside that is unique to all time. It’s our job to encourage each other to discover that uniqueness and to provide ways of developing its expression.” – Mister Rogers.

 

 

Aadam is proud to support public media and everything that this campaign stands for. We’d like to know where he got his sweater…

 

WSIU (Carbondale, IL) staff member Monica put on a sweater in honor of her late baby sister, granddaughter and Mister Rogers’ message of inclusiveness and loving celebration of all children. Her late baby sister, who was born in 1969, had Down Syndrome. Although, she was fully accepted by her large family – just as any child should be – the outside world wasn’t so kind. Mister Rogers’ messages reassured her that her sister was fine “just as she was” and she had as much a right to a happy and productive life as anyone else. She wants her granddaughter who was born with Spina Bifida, to know the same kind of understanding and acceptance, and to know that she can be whoever she wants to be.

 

 

Surely, that smile could brighten any day.

 

 

WNIT Public Television (South Bend, IN) viewer Pat supports public media for a bazillion reasons, but especially for homeland security applications through first response teams and for the huge rural portions of the country who would be without any local coverage at all were it not for public media.

 

 

Serving the public with content that matters has become Tory’s career and passion. As a WGBH  (Boston, MA) employee, she has a fierce loyalty to her station and all that it stands for: a joy of learning, an informed citizenry, and a celebration of diverse perspective. She thanks Mister Rogers for his legacy and reminding us every year that it’s a beautiful world that creates space for public media.

 

A myriad of hues were on display at the Arkansas Education Network (AETN) on May 1.

 

 

Liam loves watching Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood on KUED (Salt Lake City, UT). His mom believes public radio and TV are the best content for her children and should continue to be federally supported.

 

 

When Maureen was a young mother, her children loved  to watch Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Through watching the show, she learned a lot about the issues faced by her children. Mister Rogers taught her how to be more sensitive when answering her children’s innocent and naive questions about their everyday lives.

 

PBS SoCal fan Ann showed us that is was a beautiful day to support public media funding in sunny Southern California.

 

 WPSU (Penn State Public Broadcasting) had a speedy delivery by Mr. McFeely at their local celebration of the anniversary of Mister Rogers’ testimony before Congress.

 

 

WUSF (Tampa, FL) fans Bryten and Spike show their support for Mister Rogers and public media. However, Spike isn’t too keen on Henrietta Pussycat.

 

Milwaukee Public Television viewer Jason believes public media programming must be preserved.

 

 

The lovely ladies from KVIE (Sacramento, CA) shine a spotlight on their literacy corner while wearing their best Mister Rogers style sweaters.

 

Shirley of Vision Maker Media, whose mission is to share Native stories through public television, values public media because it provides something for everyone.

 

 

The selfie stick made it to Lakeshore Public Television‘s (Northwest Indiana) General Manager James, who took a photo with a familiar face.

 

 

KQED (San Francisco, CA) listener and viewer Saul thought remembering Mister Rogers made it an even more beautiful day.

 

It was a beautiful day at Iowa Public Television! Station employees put their passion for public media on display with two dedicated photo shoots! We encourage you to check out their #ItsABeautifulDay and #MyIPTV Facebook photo albums.

 

 

 

A red sweater and tennies for public media fan Erin from Charlotte, NC! We think Mister Rogers would definitely approve.

 

 

KCUR (Kansas City, MO) listener Dana became hugely appreciative of public broadcasting after living in rural Alaska. It was the fabric of her community. Now, she lives in the Lower 48, but public broadcasting is still the first place she turns to learn.

 

 

WJCT (Jacksonville, FL) staff brought Mister Rogers’ legacy into the studio.

 

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood when WILL (Urbana-Champaign, IL) and WTVP (Peoria) General Manager Moss and his kids met Mister Rogers.

 

 

Lastly, a big thanks to the local public media stations that first invited us into their home, gave us a ride to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, and continue to take us to new, exciting places every day.