Reconciliation Services

I just wanted to highlight this great mission work in Kansas City, MO:

http://www.rs3101.org/index.html

Mission
The mission of Reconciliation Services is to promote personal and community healing throughout Kansas City by treating each person as the image of God.
Provision
Since Reconciliation Services is based on an Eastern Orthodox Christian paradigm, services are provided to all, without regard to race, religion, ethnicity, color, class, age, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. All are served as the Icon or Image of God.
Organization
Reconciliation Services is a 501 (c)3, Missouri, not-for-profit Corporation. It is led by a diverse board of directors. It receives additional guidance from its advisory council comprised of representatives of area Orthodox parishes, area social service agencies, and consumers of its services
Funding
Reconciliation Services is funded by donations, grants, sliding scale fee-based services, and insurance funding when available.
Collaboration
Reconciliation Services seeks to carry out its purposes in a collaborative way with other agencies, instutions, faith-based initatives, and individuals striving to restore a sense of integration between various systems for the good of individuals, families, and society.
3101 Troost Avenue
Kansas City, Missouri 64109
Telephone: (816) 931-4751
Fax: (816) 931-0142
http://rs3101.org
Background
Troost Avenue has been known as the racial dividing line in Kansas City, Missouri. Yet, the word Troost is translated as Comforter in Dutch. Even earlier it was translated as tree, trust, and true.
For too long fear has divided us. Too often we see those different from us as the "other", or the "stranger".
The time is now to discover the amazing person in front of us as the image or icon of God.
Vision
The vision of Reconciliation Services is to experience life together as a community, as a village where evry human being is treated as if he or she were Christ Himself.
The vision of Reconciliation Services is to see Troost transformed into the city's gathering place, where healing, love, joy, friendship and community grow from the scarred soil of discrimination.
The vision of Reconciliation Services is to see the Troost community become a tree once again, rooted in being true to one another, nourished on restored trust, and embracing the tremendous varieties of life in our midst.
Purpose
Reconciliation Services seeks to:
Promote community development
Heal racial and ethnic divisions
Overcome personal and institutional discrimination
Provide comprehensive social services, focusing especially on:
Prevention and treatment of mental health & substance abuse
Prevention of and treatment for domestic violence, abuse, and related trauma
Providing for case management, emergency assistance, and referrals.
For more information regarding these, other services, please follow this link.
Social Teaching
Reconciliation Services conducts its affairs according to Orthodox Christian social teachings with special emphasis on respect for the dignity of the human person made in the image and likeness of God. It promotes the value of life from the moment of conception until the time of death. It seeks to cooperate with movements of peace, harmony, dialogue, and reconciliation with people of all cultures, "transcending human aggressiveness & social conflicts & achieving harmony in relationships among human beings & between entire peoples." (Yannoulatos, 2003)