WL Café And The Play Space Open To The Public

WINONA LAKE – WL Café and The Play Space at Winona Lake Grace Church opened to the public Monday.
Winona Lake Grace Church Executive Pastor Tim Wright said several years ago, coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, people had a deep need for connection, so the church began thinking about a project for the sake of the church and the community. It was then the church started dreaming of what they could do.
He said the church recognized the community around them. “We are right across the street from (Jefferson Elementary School), who we try to serve any way that we can.” He noted the church is in proximity to Grace College.
Wright said one of the things the church could do was utilize its space in a better way. The WL Café used to be office space and the only newly reconstructed space in the church was The Play Space. Construction started on the WL Café and The Play Space in October and was finished a few weeks ago, Wright said.
The cost for the project was over $5 million. There were grants from the K21 Health Foundation and the Catalyst Corridor Project through Grace College. However, the majority of the money was donated by the church family. Wright said the church is still in the midst of raising the money to cover the project and they are in the midst of a two-year fundraising campaign internally, which will end in March 2026.
In doing the project, Wright said the church thought about its community.
“We try to think about our neighbors in several ways. One, we think about the kids that are part of this community, specifically, it’s for our whole community, but we are always going to think about the Jefferson community because they’re our next-door neighbors. So kids and family connected with that. We think about our neighborhood. We also recognize we wanted to create a third space for college-age students (with the cafe). And so, kind of all of those things together, including our own church family as well, we wanted to create a space that works for everybody,” Wright said.
The Play Space is for elementary school children and younger.
Wright said the church hopes the WL Café and The Play Space create a great space to connect with each other and a way to create good relationships with neighbors, the community and the church family.
The WL Café is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon. The Play Space will be open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to noon, Tuesday and Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m., and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon.