As members of the international media pack their bags for next week's G-20 summit, they can leave their toothbrushes, TUMS and tourism books at home.

---

---

These are among the items included in gift bags the Pittsburgh G-20 Partnership will distribute starting Sept. 24 to some of the approximately 3,000 credentialed journalists who may visit the Pittsburgh Welcome and Media Center in the lobby of the Regional Enterprise Tower, Downtown.

Yesterday, 12 volunteers affiliated with AARP gathered at the Pittsburgh Welcome and Media Center to fill 1,000 Whole Foods grocery bags with an assortment of toiletries, candy and Pittsburgh reading material.

All items in the gift bags have been donated by companies with local ties.

"We wanted some of [the items] to be practical," said Bill Flanagan, executive vice president for corporate relations at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, who also publishes the Pittsburgh G-20 Partnership Web site.

Other goodies -- pamphlets on Pittsburgh's bike trails, city landscape, restaurants and shopping venues -- are meant to "encourage visitors to get out and explore," he said.

The bags also include copies of "Pittsburgh Art in Public Places: Downtown Walking Tour," a guide by the Office of Public Art (a partnership between the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council and the city's planning department) to familiarize visitors with the city's statues, fountains and other public art.

Mr. Flanagan also hopes that products in the gift bags donated by city-based international corporations like GlaxoSmithKline Healthcare will send visitors the message that many global companies call Pittsburgh home.

Other treats, such as Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish candy, are simply meant to give journalists a sugar rush after a long day of reporting.

While Mr. Flanagan helped approve which items made the cut for the gift bags, Denise Norris, manager of the Pittsburgh Welcome and Media Center and G-20 volunteers, came up with the idea for the project.

But some guidelines did apply.

No coupon booklets were accepted as donations. And including Pittsburgh souvenirs was discouraged. Mr. Flanagan said the G-20 Partnership didn't want the gift bags' content to keep visitors from purchasing their own Pittsburgh memorabilia.

Items in the gift bags were not the only things donated. The Welcome Center's furniture, floral arrangements, entertainment, printers and copiers have been provided in kind. Sarris Candies also has placed candy bars with "welcome" tags (made by Alpha Graphics) in different languages in the lobby for visitors.

And what about the G-20 dignitaries? Do they get gift bags? Plans for now, Mr. Flanagan said, are only to present them with Pittsburgh G-20 Partnership pins and G-20-themed Sarris candy bars.