On an early spring Sunday morning, eight people gathered at Harbor and Bridge Community Center for coffee and a conversation about what tests our resolve and brings us hope. Previous Sunday conversations at the Ohio City center were about cancel culture, how history should be taught in the United States, and the increase in limited liability companies (LLCs) buying residential properties in Cleveland. All of this at 9:00 a.m. on Sundays.
What brings us here every other Sunday, or rather who brings us here, is Matt Whisenhunt, a co-founder of Harbor and Bridge Community Center. In August 2021, he started inviting people into a room on Sunday mornings to have open conversations about current events, both those affecting our neighborhood and those beyond.
It all really began in the summer of 2020, when Whisenhunt (whizz-in-hunt), a recently licensed local pastor, was appointed to west Cleveland by the local United Methodist Church (UMC) district. After spending the summer walking and biking in Ohio City, he received the keys to 4321 Bridge Ave. at the corner of W. 44th Street. Whisenhunt was now the keeper of a mostly vacant 140-year-old church building and had an opportunity to develop its use for the nearby community.
What directions came with the keys? The district gave him a vague prompt to develop a new way to birth a faith community, Whisenhunt said, and he spent the next few months figuring out what that would look like. He realized that how neighborhoods and communities and cities are built matters – and his ultimate goal was “to have a space for people who are trying their best to live together in a community.”
To Whisenhunt, this means more than church services. Ohio City has a foundation of providing needs-based services to the community, primarily through churches and nonprofit organizations. This helped guide Whisenhunt to partner with neighboring organizations, such as Trials for Hope, The Catholic Worker, and Link Up Bicycle Ministry to connect the services that neighbors in Ohio City and Cleveland rely upon. The Harbor and Bridge Community Center is the hub of it all.
Making and remaking a historic church
Since the mid-1800s, there have been Methodist congregations in Ohio City. Amid many mergers and moves, and the building and rebuilding of churches, the church at Harbor Ave. (now W. 44th St.) and Bridge Ave. has stood since 1881.
And, finally, in 1985, Hope-Wesley United Methodist Church merged with Peoples United Methodist Church to become Peoples-Hope United Methodist Church and moved to W. 65th St. Another church, Primera Iglesia Metodista Unida (First Hispanic UMC) has also been noted as worshipping here for a time, but the buildings at W. 44th and Bridge have been mostly quiet since 1985.
Now, Whisenhunt’s hope for Harbor and Bridge is for it to “be like ground zero of collective action.” Much like the first German Methodists gathering in Cleveland, Harbor and Bridge is using word of mouth and its slow-growing network to share what is going on in this space.
Three years into his “vague” role, Whisenhunt is pastor and director of Harbor and Bridge. Church services are active once again, alongside various religious and nonreligious weekly groups and meetings open to all.
“We have figured out a way to make an old church building matter to a neighborhood. I want this place to be a patchwork of fingerprints by all the people who live around it,” he says.
The gathering of many: current residents of Harbor and Bridge
“We’re just one contributor among many,” said Whisenhunt. “This neighborhood thrives and lives in a way that makes people feel alive and like they matter.”
Here’s what’s happening at the church and community center.
After two years connecting with neighbors and sprucing up the building, Whisenhunt restarted worship services in July 2022. A question that guided Whisenhunt and the UMC upon restarting services is if the Methodist faith “is a faith that supports people as they live, work, and play in this community?” Harbor and Bridge is committed to answering yes.
How you can participate: Services take place every Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
Trials for Hope, founded and run by Jonathan Gray, found a home in the Harbor and Bridge building before the center officially existed. Opening in his Lakewood home in 2010, Gray quickly found himself running out of room to store the goods and supplies he was delivering to homebound seniors, victims of human trafficking, and those living in unsheltered camps. His early partnership with the Strongsville United Methodist Church meant an opportunity to move into the vacant Methodist church on Bridge Ave. in Ohio City in 2019. Since then, shelving to store all supplies has been built, a walk-in freezer is in place to offer perishable food, and a walk-in refrigerator is on its way.
Gray said moving Trials for Hope into one location at Harbor and Bridge has helped the organization grow. “We were able to move out of all the other places and have one location,” he said. “It’s just beautiful. We have a home.”
With more space available to Trial of Hope, together with a new transportation resource it has secured, its outreach has grown from serving a couple hundred people hygiene products in 2010 to providing food and toiletries for over 1400 people in February 2023 alone. With this consistent growth, they are also looking to grow their team and plan to hire 1-2 people in 2023.
How you can participate: Trials for Hope partners with the Greater Cleveland Food Bank to source fresh food. Their greatest need right now is consistent monetary donations. Send a check (currently some issues with donating online):
Harbor and Bridge
c/o Trials of Hope
4321 Bridge Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44113
Coming together in community at Harbor and Bridge doesn’t always look like conversations about current events or religious services. Throughout each week, yoga and mindfulness teachers lead participants to help calm the mind, body, and spirit. All levels of experience are welcome.
Mindfulness Club Contact: mindfulnessclubcle@gmail.com
Yoga Contact: For most current class schedules, email Matt matt@harborandbridge.com or Fred fredmowery@gmail.com
- Mondays 6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. – Kundalini Yoga with Colleen
- Wednesdays 7:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. – All Levels Yoga with Fred
How you can participate: Attend a class. Classes are donation-based and pay-as-you-can model, so any amount you are able to contribute is appreciated.
Whisenhunt repairs and donates bicycles back into the community through a partnership with Rocky River United Methodist Church’s Link Up Bike Ministry, who rents out a garage in Tremont for him to store bikes and tools. Whisenhunt says “the program has such potential to grow” but he doesn’t have the time to fix all the donated bikes and get them back out in the community.
How you can participate: volunteer your time to fix donated bicycles, which can be done from your home, and/or donate bicycles of all sizes.
On the north side of the Harbor and Bridge building, two boxes are available for neighbors to donate and receive goods. Non-perishable items are common, although fresh food does seem to be desired and is quickly taken.
How you can participate: Donate non-perishable items, including canned goods, hygiene products, socks, toiletries, and fresh food (better if it’s a bit heartier and can be eaten raw, such as carrots and apples).
I came across Collective Thoughts – the Sunday morning community conversations – through Instagram in September 2021. I was following Harbor and Bridge as a new community organization when Whisenhunt posted about that upcoming Sunday morning conversation (gentrification within Ohio City – we read and discussed this Vox article). It ticked all the boxes of a community group I was in search of: current and deep topics, new people to learn from, within walking distance, and fresh coffee (although that last part was a bonus, not a must-have).
Deb Kazar lives nearby and attends Collective Thoughts on Sunday mornings. “The people that attend have similar yet unique experiences and focus, lending to dynamic discussions on topics that can be emotionally charged,” she said. “We seem to be breaking down the barriers of thinking and acting from a single perspective.” Another neighbor, Philip Ahern, describes Collective Thoughts as “a place to discuss challenges that are impacting people at the local and national level and to build community-oriented solutions that could address these challenges.”
How you can participate: Collective Thoughts takes place on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month at 9 a.m. Email Matt Whisenhunt for more information and a copy of any reading for the session.
I know I have learned and gained new perspectives about our community and issues that affect so many. Maybe most importantly, I’ve made new connections and friends.
Find Harbor and Bridge on its website and Instagram, and find Trials of Hope on its website, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Email Matt Whisenhunt at matt@harborandbridge.com.
Samantha Musser was a participant in The Land’s community journalism program.
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