Clink, clank, clunk! That’s the sound more than 17,200 students throughout western Pennsylvania and West Virginia will soon hear as they pour their pocket change into collection jars to support Olive Garden’s 17th annual Pasta for Pennies program benefiting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s School & Youth campaign. Last year, Olive Garden’s Pasta for Pennies collected $6.1 million nationally, bringing the total amount donated since the program’s inception to more than $53 million.

Now through March 28, Project Prom, an initiative of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, is accepting public donations of formal attire at One Smithfield Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15222 (in the first floor lobby) from 8 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday-Friday.

All donations must be undamaged and clean and be appropriate for current fashion styles. Suggested donations include gowns (if worn, please dry clean); accessories, including wraps, formal handbags, new hosiery, and new makeup; formal prom shoes (silver, gold and black preferred); and jewelry (new or gently worn). All earrings, however, must be unused and in their original packaging.

Monetary donations can also be made to help purchase tuxedo rentals and dresses in hard-to-find sizes. Checks can be written to the “DHS Donations Fund” and mailed to: Project Prom, One Smithfield Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15222. Please write “Project Prom” in the memo line.

Bynums Marketing & Communications, Inc., in partnership with The Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, is launching the 19th annual African American History Contest In celebration of Black History Month. This year’s contest will focus on the contributions of African-American pioneers in med­i­cine and healthcare. Sponsors of this year’s contest include Bynums Creative Institute and Highmark.

The celebration of Absalom Jones was commemorated at Trinity Cathedral Church, Downtown. Absalom Jones (1746-1818) together with Richard Allen, were among the earliest ordained Black ministers in the United States. Jones was born in Delaware and sold to a Philadelphia storeowner at age 16. He later purchased freedom for both his wife and himself.

FRANK BOLDEN ESSAY CONTEST WINNER—From left: Nancy Bolden, widow of Frank E. Bolden; Al Mann, member of the Racism Commission; with Evan L.B. Berry, essay contest winner; and his mother A. Paige Berry. (Photos by Rossano P. Stewart)

Jones and Allen were educated by Quakers in Philadelphia where they were students at antislavery activist Anthony Benezet’s school. Following the segregation of Blacks in an Episcopal church in Philadelphia in 1786, Jones and Allen founded a Black congregation, St. Thomas African Episcopal Church.

This was the “Mother Church” for what became, beginning in 1816, the African Methodist Episcopal Church movement. Jones functioned as a minister in the Philadelphia community until his death, becoming one of the major African-American figures to emerge from the 18th century. The Frank E. Bolden Essay Contest was a part of the program.