Episcopal Diocesan Bishop blesses new community space in Lorain

LORAIN — A new Lorain business cut a ribbon and received a blessing from the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio to celebrate its recent opening. Ship to Shore, a coffee shop, book and record store at 201 W. 10th St., celebrated just over a month in business on Wednesday with a ribbon-cutting and blessing from Diocesan Bishop Anne Jolly. Ship to Shore opened Aug. 27, taking its namesake from a former ship-to-shore radio station once housed in its West 10th Street building — the first of its kind to service the Great Lakes. The venture, co-founded by Episcopal Church of the Redeemer the Rev. Alex Barton, Amy Melena, Sophie Popiel and Jacob Konieczny, hopes to serve as a "third space" for Lorain residents and visitors alike and eventually donate a portion of its proceeds back to the church's outreach programs and services. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves house novels, cookbooks, non-fiction and fiction work, intermingled with jars of jam and preserves made by Solidarity Urban Farms and wreaths from the same farm's flower garden alongside record bins with new and classic LPs. Solidarity Urban Farms grows produce on several plots scattered throughout Lorain. It is under Church of the Redeemer's nonprofit umbrella. Barton repeated a line often said to his congregation: You have to love where you are, including the people there. "We do that all the time through our community meals program and our other outreach things, and now this space as well," he said. "We think it's important to be involved in taking care of the city and our neighbors and allowing there to be multiple spaces for people to be reminded of why they matter, why community matters and why it matters to be engaged in the place you actually live in." After cutting a ribbon strung across a freshly finished concrete step and wooden deck, Jolly recited a brief blessing for the space. She called for the shop to be a place of connection, echoing its historic use as a lifeline for freighters and boaters on Lake Erie. "Bless those who enter these doors — the weary and the curious, the lonely and the hopeful," she said. "The lifelong residents and the traveler passing through, may all who come find something here to feed their minds, hearts and souls." Main Street Lorain Executive Director Max Schaefer said downtown Lorain has seen a boon of new businesses this year, and he was excited too see another community space open just off Broadway. "It's extremely important to the people who call downtown Lorain home, the people who come here every single day for work — this is a third space for people to come and have a conversation and get to know each other," Schaefer said. Ship to Shore is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.