CLEVELAND HEIGHTS — With Election Day fast approaching, Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights is opening its church for its first The club without strangers event.

The free event featuring live music, poetry, herbal tea, a reading room, hookup games and more takes place on Election Day Eve, Monday, Nov. 4, from 6 to 9 p.m.

Pastor Ryan Wallace and Kate Bouldin, director of faith formation for youth and young adults, are part of the team that organized the meeting.

They said it’s meant to help people disconnect from their cell phones, social media and the 24-hour news cycle to have face-to-face conversations and get to know each other.

“It felt especially relevant in this election season we’re in — our country is more polarized than ever,” Bouldin said. “It’s the idea that the work of justice, the work of connecting with each other and better understanding each other’s politics is done first through relationships.”

Bouldin called it “de-alienating” others who might be different from you.

“Working to see another person as a neighbor rather than a stranger to better understand their perspectives and beliefs, even if they’re really different from your own,” Bouldin said.

Several featured artists participate, including Kevin Monaco, Isaiah Hunt and Emergence Ensemble.

Fairmount Presbyterian Church

Various areas of the church will be set up for communal activities. Pastor Ryan Wallace said there will also be quiet spaces for people to pray, meditate and read.

“Part of the message we want to get across is no matter what happens on election day and in the days and weeks and months after we’re neighbors, we need to know each other, we need to look out for each other,” said Wallace. And that again, no matter what changes, that doesn’t change.”

The church conducted community activities with the aim of attracting a large number of people to the event who have no connection with their church.

“Hopefully this is the start of many No Strangers Club gatherings and more of a grassroots movement in our community to invest in relationships with each other,” Wallace said.