Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette Frank Smith, of the Mexican War Streets, sings "Precious Lord" during a service commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. at the Metropolitan Baptist Church of the North Side. The song is believed to be one of the slain civil rights leader's favorite songs.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day spurred people to action -- community service, celebration and intense discussion -- throughout the Pittsburgh area yesterday.

In Braddock

Braddock Mayor John Fetterman donned a pair of jeans, rolled up his sleeves and went to work in the rain, loading piles of debris from an abandoned church into a trash bin.

He was part of a team that worked to restore the dark sanctuary into a space for the community.

"This is a historic church that is kind of teetering on the edge of [being] at the point of no return, where it was going to eventually be razed," he said of the former United Brethren of Christ Church in Braddock.

To mark the day with service, the mayor teamed with KEYS Service Corps, an AmeriCorps program.

"I think it's symbolic that it's a church in a predominantly African-American community, and personally speaking, it very much reminds me of this time last year," he said.

Last year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the same group cleaned up an abandoned church three blocks away. That work helped transform the space into Braddock Redux, which now is used by community groups throughout the year.

The group hopes to see similar progress with this year's project.

"In the space of three hours, with just over a dozen people, we're going to take this church from the state it is in currently -- an abandoned state, unusable -- to the point where people are going to get excited about using this place when they first walk into the sanctuary," said Helen Wachter, KEYS program director.

At Pitt

Neither rain nor a day off from classes stopped 80 University of Pittsburgh students from an afternoon of service.

Jumpstart AmeriCorps volunteers gathered at the William Pitt Union to create 1,400 family activity packets for Jumpstart Pittsburgh, an organization that serves children in low-income families.

"You leave and think, 'Wow, I just did something great,'" said Molly Ferguson, a Pitt junior and Jumpstart volunteer. "Most college students are sitting at home doing nothing."

Students filled the packets with such things as felt game boards and do-it-yourself Play-Doh, which are meant to encourage educational interaction between parents and their preschool children. The packets also explained how each activity creates school success and suggested a book relating to the project.

As part of the program, each college student is paired with a preschool child and will give the children their packets throughout the next few weeks.

"The kids get so excited about them when they get them," said Stephanie Gundry, site manager for Jumpstart Pittsburgh.

In Garfield

Community service, equal rights and how to help the poor -- these goals would have to wait a while. Tiffany Jones, one of the teens who showed up at the Bloomfield-Garfield Community Activity Center, had a more pressing question.

"Hey, Mr. Luke," she told Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, as he headed out the door shortly after making a proclamation at the center.

"I like your hair. How do you do that?" she said, referring the mayor's gel and spiky hairdo.

"I used my fingers," he said, running his hand through this hair.

Before the lesson in style, Mr. Ravenstahl was one of more than 30 presenters who stopped at the little center, formerly a church, where there were gospel mimes, hip-hop, poems of peace and flamenco dance.

The center brought together old, young, black and white for at least three hours as they celebrated the legacy of Dr. King with hearts and arts.

It was the type of place that the Baptist minister, slain in 1968, dreamed about.

"Race relations is a tough issue in Pittsburgh," said County Councilman Bill Robinson, one of four elected officials who came to the celebration. "There's good leadership in this community. They work hard at using their skills and talents in leading a diverse community to work together. How better to honor that than by focusing on Dr. King."

At CMU

Carnegie Mellon University also put on a celebration of Dr. King's life.

It was more cerebral. About 150 people sat in an auditorium at University Center, chins resting on fists, listing to a panel of community leaders discussing education, justice, coalition building and cultural diversity in the post-King era.

It was one part of a full day at CMU that included choirs, candlelight vigils, creative writing awards, a photo show and a keynote address by Homewood native and author John Edgar Wideman.

City schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt was part of the panel discussion and offered what might have been the most energizing comments of the day.

He called the quest for academic achievement for minority children, particularly African-American children, "the civil rights issue of our time."

Referring to the achievement gap between black and white students, he said, "we can't solve the issue until we admit that it exists. The average African-American child in 12th grade is doing what the average white child is doing in seventh grade."

Public schools, he said, are not making progress, they're retreating. He said he was sure that Dr. King would be speaking to the issue if he were alive.

"We need more aggressive Cosbyites," he said, a reference to a controversial speech that comedian Bill Cosby gave criticizing black parents for not taking responsibility to raise students who read more, speak better and appreciate being educated.

"The need for leadership is dire now," said Mr. Roosevelt. "We need to speak honestly about popular culture and the emphasis of swagger over achievement."

To honor Dr. King by talking about the past and understanding how frightful it was to change things is important, he said, but "what we confront now is equally as scary and will require all of us and all of our effort to turn it around."