Eleos Coffee

Eleos Coffee House is a faith-based nonprofit coffee shop and roasting company at 3401 Independence Avenue in the Historic Northeast of Kansas City, Missouri. Operated by Eleos Ministries — a 501(c)(3) formed in February 2011 — it intentionally sits in an economically depressed, hyper-diverse neighborhood (“a melting pot of over 40 different ethnic groups”) and pairs specialty coffee, food, and roasting with community-transformation work: food distribution, neighborhood Bible/women’s studies, and connecting people in need with shelters, food banks, and clothing banks. RefugeKC, a refugee-and-immigrant ministry, began in the building’s basement in 2015.

Description

Eleos Coffee House bills itself as “Great Coffee… Making a Difference.”¹ It is a “full-service coffee house and roasting company serving specialty coffees, lattes, smoothies, pastries, breakfast and lunch,” located in the Historic Northeast of Kansas City, Missouri.¹ Beyond the café and roasting operation, Eleos functions explicitly as a community-transformation nonprofit: as the organization puts it, “Eleos is working toward community transformation in the surrounding neighborhoods of Northeast KCMO.”¹

The shop’s siting is deliberate. Eleos Ministries describes intentionally placing coffee houses in economically depressed neighborhoods to work toward community transformation. The Historic Northeast around 3401 Independence Avenue is characterized by the organization as “an amazing melting pot of over 40 different ethnic groups,” with African, Asian, and Latino communities, while also facing “homelessness, poverty, addictions, prostitution and violence.”¹

Community programming, as documented by Northeast News, includes a Tuesday-through-Saturday Bible study with free coffee and snacks for neighborhood residents, a women’s study, and a Friday food distribution sourced from Jerusalem Farms — an urban farm run by a Catholic intentional community in Kansas City. Staff described the shop as “a sort of bridge between those in need and those who can help,” maintaining connections to area food banks and clothing banks.² A Director of Community Impact role exists specifically to bridge people in need with people and organizations who can help.²

Ownership and history

Period	Operator / milestone
Feb 2011	Eleos Ministries formed as a faith-based nonprofit “in response to the command of Christ to make disciples of all people”; adopts a model of placing coffee houses in economically depressed neighborhoods34
2010s	Eleos Coffee House operating at 3401 Independence Ave in the Historic Northeast as a coffee house + roasting company and community hub1
2015	RefugeKC, an evangelical refugee/immigrant ministry, begins in the basement of Eleos Coffee House; its ministry offices remain at 3401 Independence Ave5
Present	Open and active; hours listed Tue–Fri 7am–2pm, Sat 8am–2pm16

Eleos Coffee House is operated by Eleos Ministries, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Kansas City, MO; gifts to it are tax-deductible.³⁴ This is not a commercial owner-operator structure — there is no private owner taking profit; the café is the revenue/mission engine of a registered charity. A 2017-era Northeast News feature names “Dan” as the operator/owner figure, with Vicky Pjecha as Head Roaster, Garrett Jeffries as a barista, and Catie Harbor as Director of Community Impact.² on full legal name of the lead operator and current staff/leadership roster.

Eleos is closely linked to RefugeKC, a separate evangelical nonprofit ministry serving refugees and immigrants that started in 2015 in the basement of Eleos Coffee House and keeps its offices in the building.⁵ The audit’s “RefugeKC-affiliated” note is therefore confirmed as a real, documented relationship — though the founding direction runs Eleos → (hosting) → RefugeKC, rather than RefugeKC operating Eleos. The two organizations are distinct 501(c)(3)s sharing the same address.⁵

Links

• Website: https://www.eleoscoffee.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eleoscoffee/
• Phone: (816) 231-3401 — per the official Eleos Coffee website.¹ NOTE: the seed listed (816) 353-3611, which does not match the official site; the (816) 231-3401 number aligns with the street address (…-3401 Independence Ave). RefugeKC’s separate office line is (816) 579-0040.⁵ on which number is the current public café line.

See also

• historic-northeast
• Registry

Sources

Footnotes

1. Eleos Coffee House — official site, including the “Eleos | Kansas City” page: “Great Coffee… Making a Difference”; full-service coffee house and roasting company; Historic Northeast location; “melting pot of over 40 different ethnic groups”; community-transformation mission; hours; phone (816) 231-3401. https://www.eleoscoffee.com/ and https://www.eleoscoffee.com/eleos-kansas-city ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. Northeast News, “Eleos: Growing faith and community through coffee” — coffee/faith/community; “a sort of bridge between those in need and those who can help”; Tue–Sat Bible study with free coffee and snacks; women’s study; Friday food distribution from Jerusalem Farms; staff (Dan, owner; Vicky Pjecha, Head Roaster; Garrett Jeffries, barista; Catie Harbor, Director of Community Impact). https://northeastnews.net/pages/community-through-eleos-coffee/ ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Eleos Ministries — “formed in February of 2011 in response to the command of Christ to make disciples of all people”; intentionally places coffee houses in economically depressed neighborhoods; 501(c)(3), tax-deductible gifts. (Eleos Coffee support/about pages.) https://www.eleoscoffee.com/support ↩ ↩²

4. Eleos Ministries — nonprofit profile (501(c)(3), Kansas City, MO). Cause IQ. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/eleos-ministries,275299366/ ↩ ↩²

5. RefugeKC — contact page; RefugeKC started in 2015 in the basement of Eleos Coffee House, with offices at 3401 Independence Ave; office phone (816) 579-0040. https://www.refugekc.org/contact-us.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

6. Yelp — Eleos Coffee, 3401 E Independence Ave, Kansas City, MO (address, open status, photos and reviews updated May 2026). https://www.yelp.com/biz/eleos-coffee-kansas-city-2 ↩