Did you figure out who’s new?

A couple of days ago, I challenged our social media followers to click around The Loop's website and guess who's new. Today, if you accepted that challenge, you get to find out if you guessed right!

Please say "hello" to The Vine Fellowship, The Family Room, and Practical Life LLC, the three newest #loopmembers to add their names to the list.

First up, we have The Vine Fellowship, a Presbyterian Church (USA) that came to Copley in 2012. Some of you may recognize it as having been the home of The HUB Community Center until last year. The HUB may not have made it through the challenges of 2020, but the church is still here and still ready to connect you to the community - the community of Copley or of the church.

I've personally known Rev. Mark Ruppert since 2014 and in all that time, he's never wavered in his pursuit of how to best serve the community. When covid hit, it wasn't long before the church got to work and got set up to begin live-streaming their Sunday services. That option continues even now for those who just aren't ready for the return to in-person services. Visit their website for more information and the link to listen in as Rev. Mark spreads the word.

Now, The Family Room may not be part of the Copley community proper but is certainly part of the community of small businesses that we love nonetheless! After all, what's not to love about "creative and messy activities to facilitate bonding opportunities for all ages"? There's just so many great words in that description.

Jessica Sharp, owner and "Mess Mogul", hails from Stow but is known to venture beyond those boundaries on occasion. In fact, she's teamed up with the Akron Children's Museum for their Hands-on Halloween event on Saturday for a special Halloween watercolor painting activity!

If you're not sure the family can handle two Halloween events in one day and plan to hit the Township's Halloween in the Park (that was moved to the high school), no worries. Check out their website for all sorts of fun activities and options, including the Party Tent Splatter Package and the recently announced time slots for photos and storytime with Santa!

Of course, thinking about photos and storytime with Santa when you're just getting ready for Halloween may be more of an organized way of life than some of you (okay, some of us) can handle...

Enter Practical Life LLC! Mary Frances McGraw is the Owner/Certified Lifestyle Expert of Practical Life. I was going to explain what she does myself but I couldn't do it any better than this: "Every aspect of your home and work life can be improved through organizing, life coaching, interior design, and etiquette coaching."

And not to let her do all the work of introducing herself here, but these two sentences on the About page of her website happened to strike a chord with me: "Since 2016, I have been pursuing my passion of helping others and using the talents I have gained throughout my life. I am grateful that I get to help others, who are often stuck in a situation that life has dealt them, to get them where they can live the life they truly want to live."

See? That there's just a great combination of words.

Give a warm welcome to all of our new members and celebrate those already in The Loop by getting to know them and showing your support every chance you get!