Kansas City, Missouri, August 1, 2024
Photo: domoca.org
After two years of comprehensive renovations, the building housing Reconciliation Services and Thelma’s Kitchen—social ministries founded and run by Orthodox Christians in Kansas City, Missouri—was reopened earlier this month.
The fifth floor of the building is home to the new St. Maria of Parish Chapel. His Eminence Archbishop Daniel of Chicago and the Midwest (Orthodox Church in America) celebrated the first Liturgy in the chapel on Saturday, July 20, reports the OCA Diocese of the Midwest.
The hierarch was joined by Hieromonk Alexii Altschul, the founder of Reconciliation Services, and Fr. Justin Mathews. The chapel features iconography by Seraphim O’Keefe. Following the service, Abp. Daniel blessed all five floors of the newly renovated building.
Photo: domoca.org
The official grand reopening of Reconciliation Services and Thelma’s Kitchen was held on Monday, July 22. The new space “will significantly increase access to critical social and mental health services for over 3,500 client guests annually.”
Thelma’s Kitchen, which initially opened in August 2018, is a “pay-it-forward” café, where all are welcome to a hot meal, regardless of how much they’re able to pay or whether they’re able to pay at all.
“The reopening of Reconciliation Services on Troost Ave., a street long associated with division and discrimination, represents more than the opening of a beautiful building or a $16-million investment in a community long burdened under the weight of compounding disinvestment”, reported Fr. Mathews. “It symbolizes our commitment to addressing poverty and trauma in our community as Orthodox Christians, along with others who share our sense of urgency to ‘love one another—so long as it is love to the end, and without exceptions,’ quoting Mother Maria. Sitting atop the highest point on Troost, like a light upon a hill, Reconciliation Services and the Chapel of St. Maria serve as a reminder of the possibility of authentic reconciliation and care for our neighbor as we seek to be faithful to God and the missionary spirit of the Orthodox Church in America.”
The reopening features music, refreshments, and a ribbon cutting, after which Thelma’s Kitchen officially reopened its doors after closing in March 2020.
Thelma’s Kitchen is named in honor of Matushka Thelma (Michaila) Altschul, who, along with Fr. Alexii, founded Reconciliation Services to help the physical needs of the community near the troubled area of 31st and Troost, which gradually grew into an Orthodox community that became St. Mary of Egypt Church. The ministry began when the couple opened their home to the poor, addicted, homeless, and hungry.
Though Matushka reposed in 2012, after which her husband took monastic vows, Thelma’s Kitchen is following in her footsteps, offering high quality meals for donations of time or money.
For more information about Thelma’s Kitchen and the ministry of Reconciliation Services, visit ThelmasKitchen.org and RS3101.org.
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