Sharing the History & Planning the Future of Albright United Methodist Church
First United Methodist Church has created a forest of Christmas trees celebrating some of the organizations that the church works with throughout the year.
One of the trees is for Albright!
You can see the Advent forest every Sunday in December, including December 28, 2025.
You can watch the Candlelight Christmas Concert on YouTube here.
The 51st Annual Albright Community Thanksgiving Eve Dinner
In 1974, the Boy Scout Troop that met at the Albright United Methodist Church hosted a free community Thanksgiving meal. The congregation of Albright and community members have continued this annual tradition. This year marks our golden anniversary – 50 years of bringing neighbors together to share in gratitude and fellowship.
The Albright Thanksgiving Eve Dinner is a free community event. All are welcome to attend and enjoy a hot, home-cooked meal.
The annual Albright Thanksgiving Eve dinner is more than just making sure everyone has some turkey and stuffing to eat … it is an opportunity to bring together neighbors from all over the city to celebrate traditions and support the community.
The Albright Thanksgiving Eve dinner is a labor of love. Each year, over 100 volunteers from across Pittsburgh come together to help cook and serve a hot turkey dinner.
Here is how you can help make the 2025 Thanksgiving Eve dinner a success!
We can always use help, if you need to come at a different time or want to bring a friend to help, we will put you to work!
The dinner will be prepared and served from the kitchen and social hall of the First United Methodist Church located at the corner of Centre Avenue and Aiken Avenue. The address is 5401 Centre Avenue. (This is the church on the other side of the Wendy’s drive-through from Albright)
Entrance: use the entrance on Centre Ave above the Pittsburgh Toy Lending Library
Parking: there is a limited number of spots in the small lot on Centre. There is also street parking on Centre Ave
When you arrive:
Please head to the volunteer check-in table.
In the kitchen: food prep, cooking, dishwashing
Outside of the kitchen: room setup, setting the table, serving guests beverages and dessert, dishwashing
All volunteers who are working in the kitchen MUST wear a hairnet, which we will have available. (A hat is also permissible).
This is an approximate schedule of activities for the day
10am
11am – 3pm
3pm – 5pm
5pm
5:30pm – 7pm
7pm – done
We will also be serving rolls, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.
Q: I need to change the time I signed up to help?
A: Just come over when you are available! There is always something to help with. We will have volunteer tasks all day.
Q: Who attends the dinner?
A: Everyone! All are welcome to attend. Feel free to extend an invitation to other groups you know of. Each year, we serve a wide range of guests, from neighbors to UPMC Shadyside employees to Pittsburgh students.
Q: Is there enough food for volunteers to have dinner as well?
A: Some years, there is more than enough food for volunteers to have dinner as well. If there is enough food, we encourage volunteers to take a break and sit and eat dinner with the guests.
Q: What happens to extra food?
A: We have already reached out to area nonprofits. If there is extra food, we plan to donate any leftovers. If you know of an organization that would like some leftovers, please let us know! Email friends@albrightpgh.com
Q: Can I bring my children to volunteer?
A: Families are welcome to volunteer. If you are bringing a child, plan to stay with them and help them with their volunteer task. (For example, parents and kids often hand out pie together)
Q: Can I share photos on social media!
A: Yes, please! You can tag @AlbrightPGH on Instagram and Friends of Albright on Facebook.
November 21, 2025: This information has been updated for the 2025 dinner.
The 50th Annual Albright Community Thanksgiving Eve Dinner
In 1974, the Boy Scout Troop that met at the Albright United Methodist Church hosted a free community Thanksgiving meal. The congregation of Albright and community members have continued this annual tradition. This year marks our golden anniversary – 50 years of bringing neighbors together to share in gratitude and fellowship.
The Albright Thanksgiving Eve Dinner is a free community event. All are welcome to attend and enjoy a hot, home-cooked meal.
The annual Albright Thanksgiving Eve dinner is more than just making sure everyone has some turkey and stuffing to eat … it is an opportunity to bring together neighbors from all over the city to celebrate traditions and support the community.
The Albright Thanksgiving Eve dinner is a labor of love. Each year, over 100 volunteers from across Pittsburgh come together to help cook and serve a hot turkey dinner.
Here is how you can help make the 2024 Thanksgiving eve dinner a success!
Thank you to Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation and author Alan Guenther for the wonderful write up on the 2023 Albright Thanksgiving-Eve dinner in the December issue of The Bulletin.
You can read the entire article here:
This year’s dinner was one of the biggest meals in recent memory. We served over 250 meals in the social hall and prepared another 60 to be delivered to the North Shore. We pretty much only had a few pies and some yams left at the end of the evening.
A huge thank you to photographer Larry Rippel for stopping by and capturing some photos of the dinner.
Photo credit: Larry Rippel
Many of you have reached out to ask where you can volunteer on a regular basis. Every Saturday, First United Methodist Church serves up a free meal through their First Food and Friends program.
The director of First Food and Friends is Monique McCain and she is always looking for volunteers. You can reach her at 412-676-8925. Follow the First Food and Friends Facebook page for updates.
Thank you to all of our supporters who donated – we had over 55 individuals contribute to our GoFundMe page this year! We were able to hire Community Kitchen Pittsburgh to help us prepare some of the meal.
A huge thank you to all of the volunteers who helped with cooking, setup and cleanup. This meal is truly a community effort.
Community Kitchen is a nonprofit organization located in Hazelwood that offers no-cost job training in culinary industries. Community Kitchen offers catering and prepares many of the grab & go items you might pick up in coffee shops around the city.
If you are looking for a new lunch spot – check out Community Kitchen’s Bloom Cafe in Hazelwood!
A quick late night post to share a few photos from the dinner today and say thank you to every volunteer and donor who helped to make the 2022 Thanksgiving Eve dinner a success. We are incredibly grateful for all of the support.
We had a great day of preparing and serving food for the community and wanted to share a few highlights and photos from the day.
We think this was one of our biggest meals yet! We served over 200 meals this evening, plus many folks were able to take home a meal for tomorrow. Plus, we had just enough leftovers to supply 100 meals to two other Pittsburgh nonprofits to distribute.
For the past two years, we handed out takeout meals outside and it was wonderful to return to the kitchen and see so many familiar volunteers and guests.
A huge thank you to the 50+ volunteers who stopped by to help cook, serve and clean up after the meal.
We were so busy this evening, I didn’t have a chance to share as many photos as in the past. A huge thank you to photographer Larry Rippel who stopped by to capture a few photos of this year’s meal.
Dear Albright Supporters,
With all that has gone on during the past year, let’s first say hello and wish that everyone and their families are doing well.
Many of you have inquired about the situation with Albright, and even more of you have asked how you can help. Those offers have meant a lot, and are ever so timely now…
The Bloomfield Development Corporation is the Community Development Corporation (CDC) that helps guide the Bloomfield neighborhood in which our beloved and historic Albright sits. In their capacity as CDC, they have received an early stage development proposal for the Albright Church building which includes its near total demolition.
As we have said consistently, we ARE NOT against development. WE SUPPORT preservation of the historic Albright church building and WE SUPPORT a re-use of the building that connects and involves the community. We remain steadfast in our belief that a plan can be created that achieves these points.
June 30 – Virtual Community Meeting
The Bloomfield Development Corporation is hosting a virtual community meeting about the proposed plan for the Albright site on Wednesday, June 30 at 6 pm.
Today, we ask you to attend the June 30th community meeting to voice your support for a plan that puts the preservation of Albright at its center.
Your support over the years has been essential in spreading our message that the Albright church should be preserved and repurposed. We now ask for your help in spreading this message in this important community forum.
Please let us know of any questions you have about the community meeting.
Thank you for all of your support,
Friends of Albright
Community Meeting Details
(note this is a virtual meeting that will be accessible via Zoom & Facebook live)
The 2019 Albright Thanksgiving Eve dinner was a huge gathering! We had over 100 volunteers who helped with cooking and clean up. This year we served over 250 meals on-site. Thank you for making the holiday extra special!
This is a 100% volunteer-run event…and thanks to all throughout our greater Pittsburgh community for prepping and cooking the food, serving the hot meals, setting up tables, and helping to clean up. And we’re incredibly grateful all who donated funds to support the dinner.
And very special thanks to:
Join us on Friday, June 7 to learn more about the past present and future of the church building.
Friends of Albright will be presenting this Friday at the East Liberty Valley Historic Society Lecture series.
Friday, June 7, 2019
Albright United Methodist Church:
A Historical Past, Present, and Future
Members of Friends of Albright, a group formed to save the Bloomfield church from demolition, will present an illustrated talk about the history of the congregation and its distinctive 1906 Richardsonian Romanesque stone building, the campaign to protect it through historic designation, and what the future may hold. The church, designed by Pittsburgh architect Chancey W. Hodgdon and now closed, is located at 486 S. Graham St. It is owned by the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church, which intends to sell it to a developer with plans to demolish.
Friends of Albright 