Pilgrim Center

Pilgrim Center 501(c)(3) Providing Spaces, People, and Support for a Resilient Kansas City.

When we opened the doors to our Pilgrim Chapel on Tuesday, we noticed a chrysalis had formed just inside the doors. It i...
08/20/2026

When we opened the doors to our Pilgrim Chapel on Tuesday, we noticed a chrysalis had formed just inside the doors. It is a bit less than 1 cm in length. We are not certain what kind of butterfly it is, but it is a teeny one! We carefully detached the chrysalis and relocated it to a safer place where we can keep an eye on it. We hope to see what hatches!

The Tea Garden is full of life! Today we pulled some bindweed, harvested some basil, and found newly hatched monarch and...
08/14/2026

The Tea Garden is full of life! Today we pulled some bindweed, harvested some basil, and found newly hatched monarch and swallowtail butterfly caterpillars. Our young fennel plants may not survive, but we could not be happier!

I also chatted a bit with an employee from NourishKC , a local nonprofit providing pregnancy and postpartum support. Check them out!

Stop by to say hi on Thursday mornings. Enjoy some fresh, iced herbal tea and a peek at the garden. Park 39 at 39th and Gillham, just across the street from us!

Join us this Thursday night, August 6, at 7 PM, for our Tea & Tarot event. Bring a snack to share, if you like, and we w...
08/04/2026

Join us this Thursday night, August 6, at 7 PM, for our Tea & Tarot event. Bring a snack to share, if you like, and we will work in small groups reading cards for each other.

This is a casual gathering, and no tarot experience is necessary. We are not experts, but we always have fun!

We meet in the cottage at the Pilgrim Center for Connection, 3807 Gilham Rd. KCMO 64111

06/25/2026

We spent a couple of hours harvesting and weeding at our Tea & Garden club this morning. Janie the lamb was plumb tuckered!

Catch us at Park 39 each Thursday morning, 8am to whenever we get too hot or tired!

The hard-working crew of Precision Plumbing has completed underground improvements at the Pilgrim Chapel, and we could n...
05/08/2026

The hard-working crew of Precision Plumbing has completed underground improvements at the Pilgrim Chapel, and we could not be more grateful to them for their expertise and hustle!

This means we are back in the chapel on Sunday mornings for Sacred Space. Please join us at 9:30 AM for community, reflection, and guided meditation.

And yes, we will be there this Sunday for Mother’s Day!

Or join us any Sunday via Zoom:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87194831793

05/07/2026

The first Saturday of May is our annual May Festival, and this year was an absolutely beautiful day to be outside!

Our May Queen from the Storybook Forest mingled with families as they visited tables, learning about our natural environment from folks like Bridging the Gap’s, Heartland Tree Alliance, Friends of Lakeside Nature Center, the Kansas City Public Library Bookmobile, and more!

Participants enjoyed making flower baskets with fresh, locally sourced florals, provided by Ur Floral Chica.

Our friend Robin brought an ice cream truck to provide free frozen treats

Sunset Trails Stables brought Pony Rides and a petting zoo, complete with eight month old llama, Hank.

And we debuted our new giant puppet, Eve, based on the honeyvine milkweed plant, a species native to our area that hosts the monarch butterfly. My helper, Harper and I paraded her around the festival, a couple of times, learning a bit about puppeteering along the way.

All of this happened in Hyde Park, and we still had two weddings in our Chapel right across the street. A lovely Saturday, indeed!

If you’d like to meet Eve, you can find us at the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association’s Farmers Markets (starting May 31), Lakeside Nature Center’s Fox Hollow Fest, or invite us to join you at your festival! We recruit children to help us puppet Eve, and we use her to teach more about how we can support wildlife in our maintained green spaces.

Thank you to everyone who joined us, and especially to all of our volunteers who made it possible. If you didn’t get to make it, please put the first Saturday of May on your calendar, and join us next year!

Sacred Space is going on a walkabout this spring!For a few weeks, while we power through some facility updates at the Pi...
04/30/2026

Sacred Space is going on a walkabout this spring!

For a few weeks, while we power through some facility updates at the Pilgrim Chapel, you are invited to join us in-person as we pop up around midtown, hosted by our gracious neighbors, or online via Zoom from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. each Sunday morning.
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Click here to join the Zoom meeting any Sunday:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87194831793
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Please register here if you would like to attend a pop-up meeting in-person, and we’ll send you the address:

https://forms.gle/YK7NNb43pBFpybbq7

Sacred Space is an opportunity to gather in community for inspiration, healing, and a focus on self. Facilitators usually share a reflection and lead one or two guided meditations throughout the hour. Tea is served. Sharing is optional.
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These sessions are donation-based and registration is required for pop-ups.

Our facilitators, Amy Zoe Schonhoff of Mindfulness in the Heartland and Leslie Tenjack of LightShift Spiritual Counseling, alternate leading each Sunday.

After a short meditation to settle into the space, the facilitator shares a reflection, then leads a longer, guided meditation. Optional sharing at the end.

Please visit our website for more information:

https://www.pilgrimcenterkc.org/​

All of these links are available in our bio as well!

With our annual May Festival coming this Saturday, 1-3pm in Hyde Park, we put our banners up on Friday! Unfortunately, o...
04/28/2026

With our annual May Festival coming this Saturday, 1-3pm in Hyde Park, we put our banners up on Friday! Unfortunately, one was stolen that same evening. Why?

I don’t have an answer. Most likely it was someone out of their mind with mental illness or on drugs. Our city doesn’t have a good way to house, treat, or mitigate the actions of these community members.

We know this is just part of being an organization in an urban area. But honestly, when you are working with one full-time staff member to run an entire nonprofit organization, complete with physical buildings, property, and gardens that need maintenance, along with many community programs to administer, not to mention all of the weddings, memorials, and administrative ins and outs that many of you know well, it really hurts when something like this happens. It’s demoralizing, and it makes us feel like our hard work just falls into a pit of nothingness.

We’ll try to cheer up before the May Festival on Saturday. Meanwhile, if you see anyone with our banner, feel free to send us a message. These banners aren’t cheap, and they were brand new. Shout out to for getting them to us fast!

If you’d like to make a donation to help cover the cost of replacing this banner, you can give on our website: https://www.pilgrimcenterkc.org/give

We are grateful for you and all of the community members that remind us that our work is appreciated. And don’t forget to join us on Saturday!!

03/22/2026

Some native bees nest in the soil. We have a busy bunch buzzing around our flower bed at the chapel!

I had the pleasure of presenting the keynote at the Missouri Department of Conservation’s annual Partner Luncheon at the...
03/05/2026

I had the pleasure of presenting the keynote at the Missouri Department of Conservation’s annual Partner Luncheon at the Anita B. Gorman Discovery Center yesterday.

My co-presenters are two amazing people who put so much time and energy into their communities through their work in our green spaces.

Whitney Barnardo works tirelessly in my own neighborhood of Pendleton Heights to improve our Orchard, community Garden, and Pocket Park.

Laura Spencer is Treasurer of the Troostwood Neighborhood Association and has spearheaded an ambitious redesign of their Pocket Park.

The Missouri Department of Conservation’s focus on Community Conservation and improvement of our urban green spaces helped to make these projects possible through cost-share grants.

It’s always exciting to hear about new conservation projects in our community, like Renew the Blue, the large-scale clean up of the Blue River Watershed.

Thanks to everyone who organized, attended, and presented!

Address

3801 Gillham Road
Kansas City, MO
64111

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 5pm
Thursday 8:30am - 5pm
Friday 8:30am - 5pm

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