An Invitation to Spend Thanksgiving Eve with Your Neighbors

Thanksgiving Day Greetings

Thanksgiving Day Greetings (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Three years ago, on Thanksgiving eve, I was asked via a Facebook post from a friend to volunteer to serve food at a free Thanksgiving dinner.  I had no idea when I walked into the kitchen, that I was walking into much more than a dinner.

One of the many things I have learned from writing this blog, is the importance of meeting and talking with your fellow neighbors.  While I am thankful that this blog, (the Facebook page, Twitter & Instagram accounts, and many local MeetUp groups) have made it possible to share more Pittsburgh stories, I am most proud of the ways that IheartPGH has used all things social media to bring Pittsburghers together in person. The annual Albright Community Thanksgiving Dinner has become one of my favorite ways to bring Pittsburghers together. Here is the post I wrote after last years Thanksgiving Eve dinner:

Posted to Facebook, November 26, 2014:

There are so many amazing people in this city that are Pittsburghers. Sometimes I am lucky enough to get to spend some a few moments with those people. Tonight, I helped a friend clean up from the community dinner that has been organized at the Albright United Methodist Church since the 1970s. The volunteers were led by a man that is 75 and has worked at Ritters for over 40 years. Earlier this year, he left Ritters and now works at Dennys. Today he cooked 9 turkeys and all of the fixings. Tomorrow he will feed 35 people at his house, then go to work at Dennys at 5pm. I have helped with the clean up for this dinner for the past 4 years and never had the chance to hear this story. I’ll gladly wash the pots and pans, and mop the floor any night of the week if I get to spend time with Pittsburghers like this.

On top of that, another kind Pittsburgher saw my post on Reddit about volunteering a the dinner and showed up to volunteer with out having heard of me or my blog. He had taken a quiz on Facebook and learned that today was his 10,000th day alive. To celebrate that, he spent the evening helping a few strangers.

That is just a little slice of Pittsburgh for you.

The Albright Community Thanksgiving-Eve dinner is more than making sure everyone has some turkey and stuffing to eat on Thanksgiving day (many folks take home an extra meal in a to-go box), but it is an opportunity for people, neighbors, from all over this city come and sit at the table together for food and conversation.

If you have been following IheartPGH over the past few months, you know there have been many posts about the future of the Albright Church Building, while I care very much about that conversation, I think it is most important that the focus of the next week be on making sure that everyone in Bloomfield, Shadyside or any other corner of this county has a warm Thanksgiving meal and some neighbors to talk with at dinner.

Help Make the 41st Annual Albright Community Thanksgiving Dinner a Success!

Thanksgiving Albright 2015-Flyer1. Plan to attend the Thanksgiving Eve Dinner! This is a free meal and all are welcome to attend if you need food, fellowship or just an excuse to meet your neighbors please plan to attend the meal.  You can RSVP on Facebook Event here.

Albright Thanksgiving Eve Dinner
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
5:30-8pm
First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall
5401 Centre Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15232 – Next to the Wendy’s

2. Spread the word! Please invite your friends, neighbors, community groups and anyone else in Pittsburgh who needs some food & fellowship to attend

3. Volunteer to help prepare this home cooked meal! Volunteers are needed to help cook, serve and clean up after the dinner.

Volunteer Shifts – Please sign up to volunteer by filling out the google form at AlbrightPGH.com/Thanksgiving

4. Donate! You can support the Albright Community Thanksgiving Eve Dinner by making a financial contribution to Friends of Albright. Friends of Albright’s fiscal sponsor is New Sun Rising and all donations are made to the group through New Sun Rising here.

The 41st Annual @AlbrightPGH Thanksgiving Eve dinner is Wed. 11/25

Click To Tweet

History of the Albright Community Thanksgiving Dinner

Forty years ago, one of the boy scouts who attended Albright planned a free Thanksgiving meal for his Eagle Scout Project.  Ever since, the congregation of Albright United Methodist Church has continued to serve a free Thanksgiving meal. Starting in 2014, Albright began holding the annual Thanksgiving dinner in the fellowship hall at First United Methodist Church, which is located just around the corner from Albright.

Here is a 2012 article from the Trib about the Albright Thanksgiving Dinner:

 

Free Historic Preservation Conference on Monday 11/16

pgh-city-planningDo you love old buildings? Want to learn more about historic preservation in Pittsburgh? This Monday, November 16, The City of Pittsburgh, Department of City Planning is hosting a one day conference on historic planning at Point Park University.

Preserving the Past by Planning for the Future
When: Monday, November 16, 2015
Where: Point Park University | Lawrence Hall | 212 Wood Street, 3rd Floor Ballroom
Cost: The conference is free to attend, but you MUST RSVP by emailing sarah.quinn@pittsburghpa.gov

Agenda:

  • 8:00 – 8:30 Event Registration
  • 8:30 – 8:45 Welcome
  • 8:45–9:00 Point Park University & Historic Preservation
  • 9:00–10:00 Historic Preservation: Part of the DNA of Pittsburgh // DonovanRypkema,PlaceEconomics
    • A presentation on historic preservation’s impacts on the economy of Pittsburgh which will include information on historic preservation tax credits, real estate values, job creation, and housing affordability. There will also be information presented on quality of life indicators.
  • 10:00–10:30 Break
  • 10:30–11:15 Finding-out What We Have, Architectural Inventories and Neighborhood Preservation // Angelique Bamberg, Clio Consulting; Sarah Quinn, City of Pittsburgh
    • This presentation will focus on defining an architectural inventory and understanding its importance. Results of two recent surveys supported by the Pennsylvania Museum and Historical Commission will be presented.
  • 11:15–12:00 National Register Nominations, Discussion & Overview of Recent Projects // Bill Callahan, the Pennsylvania Museum and Historical Commission
    • This session will provide a synopsis of National Register nominations as well as upcoming projects. Topic will include what a National Register Listing is and what it is not, as well as the public process included in the nomination process.
  • 12:00–1:00 Lunch (Off-Site)
  • 1:00–2:00 Pittsburgh Conservation District Study, Would Conservation Districts be Useful in Pittsburgh? // Nore Winter, Winter & Co.
    • This talk will include what conservation district and how they are different than what we have now. Additionally, there will be a discussion of developing a community driven process and how managing a conservation district program can be implemented.
  • 2:00 – 2:45 City of Pittsburgh Historic Preservation Guidelines // Nore Winter, Winter & Co.
    • This session will provide information on the historic preservation guidelines that were developed for this document. Mr. Winter will also discuss the intended audience for the guidelines and what each of the City-designated historic districts can do to move forward with updating their guidelines.
  • 2:45 – 3:30 Historic Preservation Topic Panel // Selected Members of Pittsburgh’s Historic Preservation Community

More Pittsburgh historic preservation resources:

 

Have a drink with Littsburgh next Tuesday!

Writing is a lonely activity. Reading is solitary pursuit. That is why Littsburgh is hosting an inaugural happy hour next week to bring those who share those two isolated passions together.

LittsburghLogoLittsburgh, a website launched by a trio of booklovers in August, is designed to connect the literary community in Pittsburgh.

The website is a hub for booksellers, authors, media outlets, and nonprofit organizations who share a love for books. Littsburgh hosts a calendar of author readings, book signings, and posts sample chapters of new books.

“We love Pittsburgh and we know the scene is awesome,” Said Rachel Ekstrom, Littsburgh co-founder. “But we want the world to know, we want people to think of Pittsburgh as a literary destination. This site is a big tool for that.“

Pittsburgh is a social city and one of the top 10 literary cities in America (according to one of those random rakings).

Ever since the launch of the site earlier this year, eager readers have been asking when they’ll host an event. They answered with an email this week:

Citizens of Littsburgh, please join us at Spirit Lodge (242 51st Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15201 – http://www.spiritpgh.com/spiritlodge/; CASH ONLY) on Tuesday, November 10th from 5:30 to 8:00 pm for $3 drafts and $10 cheese pizza! Pin a limited edition Littsburgh button to your jacket, tell us if you’re reading or working on anything good, and — most importantly — join us in raising a frosty glass of I.C. Light to literary Pittsburgh!

Ekstrom and her Littsburgh co-founders Katie Kurtzman and Nick Courage each have backgrounds in publishing. All three re-located to Pittsburgh from New York City within the past year or so.

”What struck us is not just the wonderful writers and books that come out of Pittsburgh, but there’s publishing professionals. Katie is a book publicist, Nick is a book marketer and author. I’m a literary agent,” said Ekstrom.

She says there are book jacket designers, editors, literary magazines like Creative Nonfiction, wonderful non profits like City of Asylum. That’s on top of the numerous writers, MFA students and professors, independent bookstores, chain bookstores, university bookstores, comic bookstores, publishers, libraries, little free libraries, zines, university presses, poets, journalists, and author readings…the list goes on.

“As a literary agent I want a bird’s eye view of the whole scene here,” said Eckstrom.

She and co-founder Nick Courage conceived of the website. Courage put it together and operates it. He says Pittsburgh always felt like a literary town and that the overwhelming positive response to the website proves it

“It was gratifying. It was something that was already in the air, “said Courage, who is constantly updating the site with people submitting book events and links to book related organizations.

Just this week there are 12 events on the calendar, and 30 book-related events in the area so far for the month of November.

“There are pillars, like the Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures series to living room readings,” said Kurtzman. “Hopefully people who only go to small things will start going to the big stuff and there will be cross pollination.”

The three of them plan to use their connections with New York publishing scene to bring more attention to Pittsburgh in the form of author tours and big-name author signings.

They say perhaps down the road it can grow into something bigger.

“If this leads to, perhaps, a wonderful world-class book festival that’s set in Pittsburgh. If other opportunities arise for the literary scene, we would love to be a part of that and make that happen,” said Ekstrom

For now, the site is a labor of love and runs no paid advertisements. They told City Paper in September they’d consider ads that were literary-related.

“We know Pittsburgh has great football, and great technology, we have this cool food scene emerging,” said Ekstrom. “A lot of people know Annie Dillard or Michael Chabon, August Wilson, and David McCullough, but there’s so much beyond that too.”

Littsburgh is a great place to start exploring the literary scene, big and small, blossoming across Pittsburgh.

Related articles

Sat 11/7: Volunteers Needed to Help Build Playground in Brighton Heights

kaboon-for-blogA quick post of a call for volunteers to help build a Kaboom playground in Brighton Heights this Saturday. Join the Brighton Heights Citizens Federation to build a playground on the campus of the Pittsburgh Morrow Middle School.

They need at least 200 volunteers to make this a success! Donate a few hours of your Saturday to help make this playground happen.

When: Saturday, November 7, 8am-3pm

Where: Brighton Heights Community Playground at Morrow Elementary School, 3530 Fleming Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15212

What’s Provided: Breakfast, lunch and plenty of water will be provided.  Gloves and other safety materials will be provided for the projects that need them.

What to Wear: The playground build will happen rain or shine.  Please come dressed for the weather in clothes you don’t mind getting dirty or a bit of paint/stain on.  Closed-toe shoes are required; sneakers or work boots that you don’t mind getting dirty are advisable.

Please sign up to volunteer here (This includes the Kaboom volunteer waiver information). You can follow the Brighton Heights Citizen’s Federation on Facebook for updates.

Missed Connections of Preservation Opportunities

Love. Love. Love this idea from the Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh to promote the YPA Top 10 Preservation Opportunities event next week.

Check out some of these recent Missed Connections posts for a preview of the list of the YPA’s Top Ten Preservation opportunities for 2015.

# 7 looking for someone to enjoy the view with (mt washington)

ypa-mt-washingtonu saw me on my street corner…my turrets had caught your eye when u were leaving a wedding. u said i was a princess, but u know i’m a really a queen. name’s anne. used to be with a riverboat captain but if ur lucky i just might wrap my porch around you.

meet me at the union project october 27 and we’ll make history.

# 5 I’m falling apart without you. – m4w (Brighton Heights)

ypa-no-5Our love used to span neighborhoods, but when you shut me down 8 years ago, you tore them apart. We need to reconnect…this isn’t about just you and me anymore.

You used me and you walked all over me. I miss you but if we are really going to do this, it can’t just be the same old game. You need to earn my truss back.

Meet me at the Union Project October 27th or else we’re history.

ypa-Albright-missed-connections# 4 LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO WILL TAKE ME AS I AM – w4w (Bloomfield)

I’ve had some trouble finding love – I’ve been around for a while and I’m looking for more. I know I’m a bit older, and I’ve got a stony complexion, but I want to find someone who’ll make my stained glass glow again. I’m pew-tiful on the inside, even though my facade is a little sooty. With the right partner and a little work, I’ll be right as rain.

I’ve got a lot of Friends, but I think if I find that special someone, things can be All Bright.

I was thinking we could get some coffee, but everybody’s doing that. Let’s meet up at the Union Project October 27th and maybe we can make history?

YPA’s Top 10 Release Party – Tuesday, October 27

Join YPA next Tuesday (October 27, 2015) to learn more about all of the top ten preservation opportunities for 2015.

Read more about some other creative Craigslist missed connections: