(bright percussive music) - [Narrator] Around the city of Pittsburgh, flowers are transforming empty lots.

Litter is finding its way into trash cans.

Trees are receiving some much needed mulch.

- [Volunteer] The root ball's right here, so that's the part that definitely needs mulch.

- [Narrator] And it's all being done by volunteers who are part of a group called Gay for Good.

(bright percussive music) - It's just been wonderful and the feedback has been wonderful, and the community has been wonderful.

And it's kind of a chance for the gay community to step out of itself into the community as a whole.

- [Narrator] Gay for Good is a national nonprofit service organization that started in 2008.

Eight local chapters around the country volunteer each month for a service project that benefits different community charities.

Projects range from providing backpacks to underprivileged children, to landscaping a middle school in Los Angeles, cleaning up the rivers and planting urban gardens in Chicago, and staffing a half marathon in San Francisco to raise emergency funds for women who can't afford treatments for breast cancer.

Native Pittsburgher Jared Pascoe first heard about Gay for Good when he lived in Los Angeles.

- I wanted something to do on the weekends that was a little more productive than the pool parties and trips to Palm Springs, you know, so I got involved with Gay for Good Los Angeles.

And we did like this cleanup of this hiking trail.

And it was just wonderful.

Then I moved back to Pittsburgh and I was like, "There's nothing like that here.

I wonder if I could bring that to Pittsburgh, my hometown."

- [Narrator] So in 2011, Jared co-founded a Pittsburgh chapter of Gay for Good.

On this day, about 75 volunteers are helping an environmental non-profit called Tree Pittsburgh, and the community advocacy group, Lawrenceville United.

- I take the bus down Butler every day, and this corner never looked that great.

Every time I see this corner, you know, I know that it's better, and already, there've been neighborhood people passing by, saying thank you.

- I think it's a great way for people who want to step out of the darkness of the gay bars, which we were in for like 30 years, and that was our only way, you know.

It's a great way to step out and make new friends in the daylight while you're doing good.

And you know, it's just really good energy if you can feel it on the sidewalk today.

- Any community can do good if you give them the opportunity.

And I feel like Pittsburgh is pretty open to gay people.

I don't feel like there's much, you know, that we have to prove, but it's still nice to show the community that, you know, you can do good.

- Whether it's gay members of the community or not, they're support or allies that it's just something, that's just a side thing, you know.

Everybody here wants to volunteer and give their time.

And I think that's what just draws us all together.

- [Volunteer] The first-ever Harvey- - [Narrator] They're also drawn here today as part of an international day of service, celebrating gay rights activist, Harvey Milk.

- Harvey Milk said that "If you want to change the world, start in your neighborhood."

So I think this is awesome that we're here, you know, making the neighborhood better in Pittsburgh.

- [Narrator] Harvey Milk was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors back in 1977.

He was assassinated just 11 months after he took office.

In Pittsburgh Strip District, the volunteer coordinator for Tree Pittsburgh honored Milk's memory by asking Harvey Milk trivia questions while workers weeded the trees.

- Okay, in what year did he get elected, and what position did he hold in San Francisco?

- It was kind of a way to, we like to keep our volunteer events fun and creative, and we like to do different things, and let everyone know who Harvey Milk is, why he's so important, and how he actually matches up with Tree Pittsburgh's mission of working in neighborhoods and caring for our community and being together to build those bonds.

- [Narrator] Tree Pittsburgh plants trees around the city, nearly 20,000 of them to date.

And they rely on volunteers to weed, mulch and water them.

In 2012, Tree Pittsburgh honored Gay for Good for its outstanding service.

- And in 2012, they were honored with our community group volunteer service award because they volunteered over 250 hours to our organization in 2012 alone.

- [Narrator] Without that volunteer assistance, city workers would need to maintain the trees.

Tree Pittsburgh values each volunteer service at $25 an hour, which means Gay for Good's 250 volunteer hours in 2012 saved the city well over $6,000.

And despite the group's name, the emphasis is on the good, not the gay, so everyone's welcome.

Events often include straight volunteers, like Margie Smith of Squirrel Hill.

She showed up because she loves gardening.

- It's really rewarding to do weeding because it looks so much better afterwards.

- [Narrator] Kupurva Mumuly and his wife, Pradnia came with a friend.

- And it's not more about people, it's more about doing your work, so doing the work for the city, or for something for the better.

So, it's not like who we are doing it for.

It's like what you are doing.

- We've had volunteers, older volunteers in their 70s.

We've had straight volunteers, gay volunteers, transgender volunteers.

The importance of this organization is to go out into the community.

So everybody, every kind of person is welcome to come and volunteer.

- [Narrator] Since Gay for Good Pittsburgh began, only one organization ever turned down their offer to volunteer.

- We reached out to an organization to help with the holiday thing.

And the first person I talked to was very responsive.

And then I guess her superior stepped in and kind of sent me an email and said that they would pass.

- [Narrator] The rest of their volunteer offers have been gratefully accepted, and so far, they've helped 18 Pittsburgh non-profits and logged over 3,000 volunteer hours.

Project recipients run the gamut from Toys for Tots to Best Buddies International.

The group recently held a bingo fundraiser to benefit the Animal Rescue League, answered phones at the WQED studios, and packed boxes at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

- The purpose of Gay for Good here in the Pittsburgh region is volunteers to make a difference.

It's a place for queer people to feel comfortable volunteering together, and we work together.

We don't make any discrimination in regards to the volunteers that we work with at Tree Pittsburgh.

And we don't see it as gay people doing gay things.

We see it as good people doing good things for our city.

(mellow music) - We're out here and people are thanking us, like on the street as we're working.

So I think that, you know, people are definitely seeing, feeling the energy of, you know, doing good.

(bright music)