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The Smithfield Church cookbook – Inspired to Cook – is replete with inspired and inspiring recipes. See Regina or print, complete, and submit a cookbook order form (.pdf format).

Weekly opportunities

UCC Coffee Project –
Our congregation participates in this program, offering coffee (ground and beans, regular and decaf), tea (black and green), cocoa, and chocolate (regular, dark, mint) at reasonable prices and guaranteeing fair compensation to growers in developing countries. For more information about the project, see http://www.equalexchange.com/ucc

Wednesdays, from 12:10 - 12:30 p.m., we offer a brief service for business people, shoppers, and passers-by who may want to spend part of their lunch hour in a restorative and spiritual way.

Thursday mornings, Women's Fellowship meets to sew, knit, and crochet blankets and more that are suitable for everyone from babies to adults. The over 100 blankets made each year are given to Project Linus, Pittsburgh's East End Cooperative Ministry, and to Rev. Dr. Susan Cherian (visitation minister) who takes them to hospitalized and shut-in members and friends of the congregation. All are welcome to join in this special mission to the community – women, men, teens. Unable to attend weekday meetings? You can be among those making blankets at home.

Community and Outreach opportunities

As the cold and blustery wintry weather settles in each year around November and promises to be with us through March, know that Operation Safety Net is again managing the Severe Weather Emergency Shelter SWES) housed here at Smithfield Church. Learn more on the Outreach page and a separate page featuring an interview with Operation Safety Net program director, Linda Sheets, that was published in The Spire earlier in 2010. Wishing to support this ministry in some way? Donations of new men’s hats and gloves to Operation Safety Net for distribution at the shelter are welcomed. Donations may be delivered or mailed to Operation Safety Net, 1518 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15219. Monetary donations may be sent to Operation Safety Net, c/o Pittsburgh Mercy Health System Development, 101 Bradford Road, Suite 320, Wexford, PA 15090. Please indicate that the gift is intended for individuals served by Operation Safety Net at the Severe Weather Emergency Shelter.

Check regularly for updated statistics of our food pantry's ministry to the downtown community.

Anyone needing emergency food should be advised to call the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank "Get Help" line at 412-460-FOOD, ext 456 (412-460-3663 ext 456)



Learn how Smithfield Church partners with the food bank and how you can "Get Involved"




Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and
        register to receive the GPCFB's monthly e-mailed newsletter
Pennsylvania Association of Regional Food Banks
Pennsylvania Hunger Action Center
Sign up for the Feeding America e-newsletter and action alerts and
        learn more about this nation-wide non-profit organization

Why do state and national policy and budgeting issues matter to Smithfield Church?

Here in Pennsylvania the State Food Purchase Program enables the state's private charitable food distribution network, which includes our Walk-in Ministry, to provide nutritionally balanced food packages to low-income families, children, seniors, and those with disabilities.

Nationally, funding for the Emergency Funding Assistance Program helps make up for the erosion in commodity purchasing power and the loss of bonus commodity donations to local food banks. World-wide shortages of such vital staples as wheat and corn products, milk, and rice and the economic crisis are making it increasingly difficult for many to make ends meet.

View our UCC video: Here's the Church and Here's the Steeple.

New to Smithfield? Parked in the garage?
Make the Hospitality Center your first stop.

Access

• Bulletins and hymns for the day are available in large print.
• Portable listening devices are likewise available.
• An elevator by the church's front entrance makes our second floor sanctuary accessible for anyone who has difficulties with stairs.

Parking

We're at 620 Smithfield Street. If you park in the public garage across from the church, bring your parking ticket with you, have it validated at the Hospitality Center when you enter the building, and be charged only $1 for parking.

Please note: if you exit the garage onto Smithfield Street, a one-way street, you must turn left into the middle lane. The lane nearest the parking garage is a bus-only lane headed in the wrong direction.

On Sundays, limited on-street parking is available on Smithfield Street.

Directions to the church

SITEMAP (Index of pages)
Many pages about past events are no longer directly accessible, but they may still be available. Check the Sitemap for them. The sitemap is also a good place to start if you want to go directly to a particular page.

The on-line Guide to Church Registers of baptisms, confirmations, marriages, deaths and Finding Aid for the Smithfield United Church of Christ Archives. (a .pdf document)

To contact the church archivist, send an email to smithfield@verizon.net or call the church office: 412-281-1811.

All of the services the Archives performs — including searches, photocopies, and digital images of original records — are provided without charge. The Archives welcomes donations, which are used to purchase such much-needed supplies as acid-free containers.

Note: All cemetery records are held by the Smithfield East End Cemetery (412-422-8872).

  We are committed participants
  in the United Church of Christ's
  God is still speaking initiative.

  "Never place a period where God has placed a comma."
                                                                      Gracie Allen


Questions or concerns? Call us at 412-281-1811