Profiles
At 21 years old, Rich Dunfield IV felt like an absentee father, he said. Struck in his prime with painful ailments after a tick bite — nerve and belly problems, anxiety and depression — he was home but not present. “My entire life was rooted in fatherhood. I started young, but I embraced it. Lyme…
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Brewed in a recession, Danny O’Neill wasn’t sure The Roasterie would sell a single cup of coffee, let alone percolate into an iconic Kansas City brand, the founder said as he reflected on the regional coffee titan’s 25th anniversary. “The only idea I had was coffee,” O’Neill said of his decision to jump ship from…
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Commanded by Scripture, David Altschul journeyed into parts unknown, said his successor, Father Justin Mathews. In the mid-1980s, a philanthropic pull tugged at the heart of Altschul — a white, insurance salesman from Johnson County — and eventually led him into the distressed, history-rich neighborhoods that lined Troost Avenue on the east side of…
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Twenty people once filled the kitchen of Thelma Gardner’s apartment in search of their next meal. Their hunger for food fueled her hunger for humanity, recounted Father Justin Mathews as he sat sipping coffee in the newly opened Thelma’s Kitchen. The pay-what-you-can restaurant — located inside of the Reconciliation Services building at 3101 Troost Ave.…
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With reflection in his voice, Alvin Brooks paused. “The city has to be a partner,” the Civil Rights activist and veteran Kansas City Police Commissioner said as he spoke of the redevelopment of Troost Avenue — the well known racial dividing line, that has long isolated the east side of the Kansas City metro from the…
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