Residents of the tiny community south of Charlevoix were left with no place of their own to buy groceries, have a meal or gather to talk and stay in touch.
But in a rare confluence of entrepreneurial thinking, interfaith cooperation and old-fashioned volunteerism, Ellsworth's church and civic leaders and residents pulled together to create an unusual business: a community-run, nonprofit cafe called the Front Porch. Only a handful in the country are known to use its economic model, and it may be the only one of its kind in Michigan.
